• The Role and Importance of Immunotherapy in Breast Cancer Treatment
  • Arezoo Hassani,1,*
    1. Msc of Molecular Genetic Department of Genetics, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran.


  • Introduction: Breast cancer accounts for 30% of all new cancer diagnoses and about 41,000 deaths annually in the United States, making it a danger to women's health and well- being. Despite a 38% reduction in the death rate from breast cancer due to breakthroughs in early identification and therapy, nearly all patients who develop metastatic illness will ultimately lose their lives to it. These depressing statistics highlight the urgent need for novel ways of breast cancer treatment that lessen the disease's recurrence and fatality rate. More and more evidence in recent years points to the immune system's critical role in deciding a patient's long-term survival as well as how well they respond to conventional therapy. The remarkable therapeutic efficacy of immune checkpoint antagonists against a variety of solid tumors, along with these data, have rekindled interest in immune-based approaches to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of breast cancer. This study set out to examine the function and significance of immunotherapy in the management of breast cancer.
  • Methods: The study with titled the role and importance of immunotherapy in breast cancer treatment which was done by searching scientific databases such as Science Direct, Springer, Google Scholar, and PubMed.
  • Results: The immune system's dualistic function in breast cancer The initiation, spread, and management of breast cancer are all actively influenced by the immune system. Immunoediting is a characteristic of the dynamic interactions between host immunity and breast cancers. Acute inflammation triggers innate immunity early in the development of mammary tumors, which leads to the death of tumor cells as well as the maturation of dendritic cells (DC), which fuel the T-cell response specific to the tumor. Either immune-mediated rejection of nascent cancers or the selection of tumor cell variations immune response-evading take place at this point. In the end, acute inflammation gives way to chronic inflammation, creating a complex tumor microenvironment (TME) with suppressive immune cells (regulatory T cells, B cells, and myeloid-derived suppressor cells, MDSC) and stromal cells (fibroblasts, endothelial cells) that facilitate tumor progression and overt immune escape. Immune checkpoint molecules are increased on tumor cells and immune cells in response to early immunological activation, and immune-suppressive metabolic pathways are triggered in various immune cell types during this change in the CD4 T cell response from T helper (Th) type 1 to Th type 2. Together, these forces establish a formidable network of immune suppression within the breast TME. This microenvironment, and other factors described in this review, impinge on the immune system to sculpt antitumor immunity.
  • Conclusion: Combination immunotherapies have the potential to transform immunologically cold breast cancer lesions into immune-activated tumors that are ready to respond to immunotherapy soon. tactics for personalized immunotherapy are being developed quickly. These tactics make use of vaccinations that deliver immune-modulating chemicals and/or tumor-specific neoantigens selected according to the immunologic milieu of a particular tumor. Research is increasingly focused on identifying environmental modifiers of immunity (microbiome, metabolic and hormonal factors, concomitant pharmacological therapy), as well as developing biomarkers that predict response and resistance to therapy. We will certainly also get closer to the ultimate aim of immune-based breast cancer prevention by implementing vaccination strategies together with the knowledge gained from contemporary breast cancer immunotherapy.
  • Keywords: immunotherapy, breast cancer, drug therapy, CD4