ESMO Breast 2022 | The evolution of immunotherapy for breast cancer

Dave Cescon, MD, PhD, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, Toronto, Canada, discusses the evolution of immunotherapy (IO) in breast cancer, including the approval of pembrolizumab or atezolizumab in combination with chemotherapy for advanced disease or chemotherapy with pembrolizumab as neoadjuvant or adjuvant therapy for early breast cancer. Current investigations are focusing on which subgroups of patients benefit most from IO, such as patients exhibiting the PD-L1 biomarker. Discovery of particular characteristics may allow for the identification of patients who could avoid chemotherapy and the associated toxicities. The Phase III KEYNOTE-355 trial (NCT02819518) showed many of the symptoms from treatment were associated with chemotherapy as opposed to pembrolizumab. This interview took place at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Breast Cancer 2022 congress in Berlin, Germany.