Neoantigen-Driven Immunotherapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: Emerging Strategies and Clinical Potential

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Immunology
• Genetics

Background:

• Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive breast cancer subtype with poor prognosis.
• Current therapies are limited, necessitating novel treatment strategies.
• TNBC's unique immunological features present opportunities for immunotherapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review neoantigen-based therapeutic approaches for TNBC.
• To analyze the tumor microenvironment (TME) and its role in therapeutic success.
• To discuss methods for neoantigen identification, prioritization, and therapeutic modalities.

Main Methods:

• Review of current literature on neoantigen-based therapies in TNBC.
• Analysis of tumor microenvironment components and their impact.
• Examination of neoantigen identification technologies and prediction algorithms.
• Discussion of therapeutic modalities including adoptive cell therapies and personalized vaccines.

Main Results:

• TNBC is characterized by patient-specific neoantigens, with TP53 being a recurrently mutated gene.
• The balance of immunoactivating and immunosuppressive cells in the TME is crucial for treatment outcomes.
• Current clinical trials show a gap between proof-of-concept and broad applicability due to prediction inaccuracies, cost, and time.

Conclusions:

• Neoantigen-driven immunotherapies hold significant potential for TNBC treatment.
• Overcoming challenges requires combinational strategies, TME modulation, and optimized production workflows.
• Further research into cost-effective and accurate neoantigen identification is essential.