Understanding The Impact of Age on Response to Immunotherapy in Breast Cancer
Abstract
Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy, which is designed to unleash a patients immune system to attack cancer, has been revolutionary for treating cancer patients; nevertheless, ICB therapy is ineffective for many breast cancer patients. Most breast cancer clinical trials are focused on testing various chemotherapies to identify ones that make ICB work better. However, we believe that there are better ways to improve ICB than to use harsh chemotherapies and that we could identify more effective drugs if we understood more about a breast cancer patient's immune status. We contend that age is an important consideration with respect to ICB, given that normal aging is associated with profound changes to the immune system. Our preliminary studies support the idea that ICB may not be as successful for older breast cancer patients as it is for younger patients and that other treatments need to be studied in order to help older patients. For our project, we proposed to identify existing drugs that improve responses to ICB in aged mice that could eventually be used to help patients. Assessing the immune changes that occur with age could provide a foundation for effectively applying ICB to breast cancer patients of all ages. Ultimately, we hope to provide a basis for improved clinical trial design and to help oncologists make decisions about age-stratified treatment options using ICB for breast cancer. Success in our endeavors has the potential to save lives by delivering the promise of immunotherapy to even more breast cancer patients than are currently seeing benefit.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1153329
Entities
People
- Sandra S McAllister
Organizations
- Brigham and Women's Hospital