Future of Triple Negative Breast Cancer: Can Immunotherapy Treat This Deadly Subtype of Breast Cancer

TNBC is one of the most complicated types of breast cancer to treat. It is generally diagnosed based on the absence of three receptors: estrogen, progesterone, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and is thus defined as a triple negative. TNBC is often more aggressive with lower survival rates than other forms of breast cancer; however, the outlook depends on the stage of diagnosis. This type of breast cancer cannot attract potent anti-cancer and hormone drugs due to the lack of surface proteins, so patients diagnosed with the disease have to rely almost exclusively on chemotherapy. In recent years, immunotherapy has gained attention, as a developing option, to treat a subset of cancers.