Breast cancer remains one of the most common and complicated diseases to date, which poses a threat to a huge number of female and male populations. Thus, it is essential to note that substantial progress has been made in a better understanding of the biology of breast cancer over the years, resulting in new therapeutic approaches promoting better patient outcomes and quality of life. Read on for the latest developments in breast cancer that bring hope to women through new potent drugs, state-of-the-art technologies, and advanced clinical trials.
Advancements in Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy has changed the face of cancer treatment by using the body’s immune system to tackle cancer cells. Among the main developments in the therapy of breast cancer, it is possible to allocate the usage of pembrolizumab as an anti-PD-1 antibody. Pembrolizumab has demonstrated excellent outcomes in the treatment of breast cancer positive for PD-L1, which also failed to respond to chemotherapy. Thus, clinical trials have revealed that with the help of pembrolizumab, patients indicated a high degree of tumor reduction and an increased survival rate. This therapy operates under the principle that by preventing the utilization of the PD-1 pathway that cancer cells use to avoid detection from the natural immune system, an individual’s immune cells will be able to effectively kill the cancer cells.
Targeted Therapy with Trastuzumab Deruxtecan
Herceptin derivative trastuzumab deruxtecan (DS-8201) is considered a completely new class of targeted therapy for HER2-positive breast cancer. This is a type of targeted drug that combines the ability of an antibody that binds to HER-2 with a chemotherapy drug to treat the cancer. Hearing about the clinical trials, trastuzumab deruxtecan has reported spectacular outcomes in those patients who had received prior lines of HER2-targeted treatments. In addition to improving progression-free survival, the therapy also had a high objective response rate, which makes it ideal for advanced HER2-positive breast cancer patients.
Combination Therapies: Ribociclib and Fulvestrant
In combination with the CDK4/6 inhibitor ribociclib, overall survival has been increased in patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer to treatment with the endocrine therapy fulvestrant. It combines agents that affect the mitotic cycle of cancer cells and the endocrine activity, which helps to limit the further advancement of the tumor. Investigations in oncology practice have shown that the patients who underwent treatment with ribociclib in combination with fulvestrant had a higher overall survival time than the patients under treatment rate, fulvestrant only. This combination therapy is specifically recommended for premenopausal and perimenopausal patients; it is considered a new reference model for breast cancer treatment in these groups of patients.