Research from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center could provide a new approach to treating an aggressive form of breast cancer.

A study led by Duxin Sun, Ph.D., found that targeting the immune microenvironment in lymph nodes and tumors simultaneously led to long-term tumor remission in mice models of metastatic triple negative breast cancer. Further, using nanoparticles to deliver these immune-altering drugs increases treatment efficacy. These results appear in Science Translational Medicine.

Immunotherapy combined with chemotherapy has been long approved as standard treatment option for triple negative breast cancer but only shows a limited response in patients. Many believe that the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment is one of the main contributing factors for the poor responses in those with TNBC.Sun, Charles R. Walgreen Jr. Professor of Pharmacy and Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the U-M College of Pharmacy, says that previously developed immunomodulators work well in animal models, but fail in clinical trials. He and his team wanted to come up with a better approach that would treat TNBC patients long-term that could withstand the rigor of clinical trials. To do this, they had to look beyond just the tumor microenvironment to the lymph nodes.

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