Dr. Rugo Discusses Immunotherapy in TNBC

Hope Rugo, MD, professor of medicine, director of the Breast Oncology Clinical Trials Program, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses immunotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Immunotherapy agents need to be started earlier in TNBC, says Rugo, as that is where the best response is seen.

As cancers progress, mutational load increases neoantigens. If a tumor has an increased mutational load, the tumor can progress and develop more resistance—creating more mechanisms of avoiding an immune response, which Rugo says are beyond a checkpoint inhibitor.