Biography
Biography: Saranya Chumsri
Abstract
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive form of breast cancer that accounts for 10-15% of breast cancer. Patients with TNBC often have poorer prognosis with the median survival of 13 months in metastatic setting. TNBC is more prevalent in younger women and patients with germ line BRCA1 mutation. This form of breast cancer lacks all currently established druggable targets in breast cancer, namely estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2. Based on tumor genomic landscape, studies showed that TNBC is heterogeneous and comprises of at least 6 unique subtypes. Each subtype appears to have differential response to different targeted therapies. One of the targeted therapies that has gain more interest in the past few years is the anti-androgens that target androgen receptors. Currently, there are 2 phase II trials that showed prolonged benefit of treatments that target androgen receptors in patients with TNBC expressing androgen receptor. Emerging studies demonstrated that immune system also plays a critical role in TNBC. Furthermore, targeting host immune system using immune checkpoint blockade agents have been recently shown to have promising durable responses in several patients with TNBC. Several researches are ongoing to evaluate the role of these immunotherapies in patients with TNBC