The overexpressed antigens in triple negative breast cancer and the application in immunotherapy

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered a poor prognosis subtype breast cancer with insensitivity to hormonal and targeted therapies. TNBC has several overexpressed tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) that contribute to cancer progression and prognosis determination of the patients. Moreover, the overexpressed TAAs can be used to induce the host immune response which may provide an alternative potential treatment option for TNBC patients.  In this review, we describe four overexpressed antigens commonly reported in TNBC, their clinical significance, and current ongoing preclinical and clinical studies to target these antigens in immunotherapy including immunotoxin/drug-conjugated antibody, bispecific antibody, cancer vaccine and chimeric antigen receptor-T cells (CAR-T cells). These immunotherapy approaches using the overexpressed proteins as targets are proposed as important alternative treatments for advanced TNBC patients.