Value of Carbon-Ion Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer

To explore the challenges and future of carbon-ion radiation therapy (CIRT) in breast cancer, we summarized the progress of nonclinical and clinical studies on CIRT for breast cancer in this review. A total of 6 nonclinical studies have been reported, which demonstrated a better effect of Carbon-ion irradiation compared with X-ray in breast cancer cell lines (including triple-negative breast cancer and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-negative breast cancer). Combination with Hh inhibitor, dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor, and PARP inhibitor is promising as demonstrated in the in vitro studies. Approximately 34 patients with breast cancer went through CIRT treatment, as reported in 5 clinical studies. All studies demonstrated promising treatment effects with acceptable and manageable risks. In these studies, a total of 21 patients were reported with post-treatment response assessments, among whom 19 patients (90.48%) reported a response of complete response or partial response. The complete response rate was 66.67%. The time to complete the response ranged from 3 months to 24 months. No adverse events were observed in these studies except for grade 1 acute skin reaction in 14 out of the 21 patients (66.67%). Although the time to respond was longer than expected in some studies, the persistent responses and satisfactory safety profile provided the rationale for further research on this new therapy.