Immunology and immunotherapy in breast cancer

Abstract

Immuno-oncology is a rapidly developing field in medicine. Drug combination therapies have already been studied in many clinical trials on various tumor types. In recent years, a checkpoint inhibition therapy with monoclonal antibodies targeting PD-1 and its ligand PD-L1 has been developed. Breast cancer had been examined in the field of immune-oncology relatively recently. This review focuses on clinical evidence regarding immune checkpoint inhibition for curative treatment of various breast cancer subtypes. In addition, we present the results of studies demonstrating the prognostic and predictive value of levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (CD4 and CD8), their quantitative ratios, and their correlation with regulatory genes (PD-1, PD-L1, and FOX-P3).