Researchers have made tremendous progress on cancer immunotherapy in the last decade. Immune checkpoint inhibitor drugs, adoptive cell therapies, and tumor vaccines are now used in various cancer clinics as alternative treatment options. For metastatic breast cancer, the FDA approved the immunotherapies Tecentriq® (atezolizumab) in 2019, and Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) in 2020, to treat some metastatic triple-negative breast cancers.
However, the outcomes of using cancer immunotherapy vary among patients. Some patients’ cancers do not respond to immunotherapies at all, while other patients’ tumors may initially respond to immunotherapies but then regrow after a while. This might be caused by immunotherapy resistance. Researchers are studying what causes immunotherapy resistance and how to overcome it.
Watch the video and read the articles below to learn more about immunotherapy resistance, and to find metastatic breast cancer clinical trials studying immunotherapy.
What is immunotherapy Resistance?
- OncLive Dr. Paulson Discusses Acquired Resistance to Immunotherapy
- Breast Cancer Research Foundation BCRF-Supported Study Reveals How Tumor Cells Use Novel Strategy to Resist Immunotherapy
- Cancer Research Institute Immunotherapy 101 with Dr. E. John Wherry at the 2020 CRI Virtual Immunotherapy Patient Summit
- American Society of Clinical Oncology Educational Book Mechanisms of Resistance to Immune Checkpoint Blockade: Why Does Checkpoint Inhibitor Immunotherapy Not Work for All Patients?
Immunotherapy Clinical Trials
- Metastatic Trial Search: Trials that Include Immunotherapy