Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Combination with Chemotherapeutic Drug to Improve the Overall Survival Rate of Breast Cancer Patients

Release Date: 20-Nov-2020

A novel cancer study indicates that adding a potent immunotherapy drug to the three-drug chemotherapy regimen carries the ability to treat the patients suffering from triple-negative breast cancer. To prove the clinical research study, researchers enrolled approximately 333 people who were suffering from triple-negative breast cancer. The primary aim of the researchers was to validate the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor drug called as atezolizumab in combination with other chemotherapy drugs.

The patients enrolled in the study were randomly assigned to receive the immune checkpoint inhibitor drug i.e. atezolizumab with other combination of chemotherapy drugs such as nab-paclitaxel, adriamycin, and cyclophosphamide. The overall response for the therapy was noted at the time of surgery. It was found by the researchers that the percentage of complete response rate in the patients with no residual invasive cancer in the breast or lymph nodes at the time of surgery andndash; was 16.5% higher in those who received atezolizumab than in those who did not received any drug. The overall response rate of the patients who received the combination was 57.6% whereas the complete response rate in the placebo group was only 41.1%.

Therefore, a significant improvement was found in the patients who received the combination drugs, thereby suggesting that the immune checkpoint therapy wilol work in all the patients who are suffering from early-stage triple-negative breast cancer regardless of the PD-L1 status of their tumor as the patients enrolled in the study were negative for PD-L1. Future work of the same clinical research activity is estimated to deliver more potential results, leading to an era which will be beneficial for breast cancer patients.