Roberto Leon-Ferre, MD

Optimizing therapies for patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer

Impact

Patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) face higher risks of early recurrence and death compared to other breast cancer subtypes. Chemotherapy, often combined with immunotherapy, is the standard treatment, even for early-stage TNBC. Most patients receive a combination of two to five drugs, increasing the risk of side effects. Prior research has shown that patients with early-stage TNBC who did not receive chemotherapy and had high levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), a cancer fighting immune cell, had a lower risk of developing metastatic disease and dying.

What’s next

For Dr. Leon-Ferre’s Conquer Cancer Award supported by BCRF, he and his team will evaluate if TILs and tumor proliferation biomarkers can refine prediction for risk of recurrence in TNBC patients who did not receive chemotherapy. The team hopes to incorporate these markers into future clinical trials so that the chemotherapy regimen can be personalized, potentially reducing the number of drugs needed and minimizing side effects while maintaining effective cancer control.