Dr. Bardia on the Role of the Microenvironment in TNBC

Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, attending physician, Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the role of the microenvironment in the treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

According to Bardia, we know from preclinical models that the tumor microenvironment plays a very important role in tumor progression. The stromal and cancer cell interaction is an important piece, Bardia adds. In terms of therapeutic approach, the best strategy to target the tumor microenvironment is not currently known.

However, there is interest in immunotherapy. PD-1 inhibitors affect the cancer cells and the T cells, but a lot more needs to be done to target the microenvironment, including the macrophages and the fibroblasts, all of which play an important role in the progression of cancer, Barida adds.