Confused

Mudpie

All,

I'm confused. Is there effective immunotherapy for breast cancer or not. I cant really find anything substantial on the internet. My Onc Doc said there isn't anything truly valuable yet.

I have stage IV er+ pr ductal carcinoma. Mets to bones. I am quickly becoming multi-treatment resistant. The last 4 or 5 meds have crapped out shortly after treatment or not worked at all. I'm in the market for a new path even if its a trial.

Mudpie

Meow13

Hi Mudpie, my oncologist said we aren't there yet. I believe there maybe BCO members who have had trial immunotherapy. Look on the stage 4 topics, I think traditional treatment must be tried first. It is very upsetting I know it makes so much sense to target the cancer cells instead of blanket poison to kill fast growing cells. From what I have read using a patients own modified T cells is a risky business as they can attack healthy organs.

Commercials on tv are upsetting making it sound we are so far along with cancer treatment we are NOT.

Since you have had failure on 4 to 5 drugs you may qualify for a study.

rdeesides

There absolutely are some immunotherapies that are working. I know someone who was Stage 4, with very advanced disease from what I understand, that is now NED due to Opdivo. However, it is not standard of care yet. Also, it won't help everyone. However, for those it does help, it is a miracle. You can only get access to it through cinical trials at this point. Maybe take a look through www.cinicaltrials.gov, to see if you find anything that looks like a good fit.

Rebekah

Mudpie

Thank You, please add if you hear anything more.

Mudpie

Thank You, I cant find a clinical related to Opdivo, unless I am looking in the wrong place.

LoriCA

Mudpie for Opdivo trials you need to search for nivolumab. I found 31 breast cancer trials currently recruiting.

There are some passive immunotherapy drugs approved for breast cancer. Herceptin, Perjeta, and Kadcyla (TDM-1) are considered passive immunotherapies, as is Opdivo. Those are the only three currently approved that I am aware of unless something else has very recently been approved. Unfortunately only about 20% of us are HER2+ and can take advantage of them (and I give thanks every day that I'm in the 20%). Your profile isn't visible (or hasn't been added) so I don't know your HER2 status or what treatments you've previously had.

I don't think that Keytruda, a check point inhibitor immunotherapy, has been approved for breast cancer yet, but it seems close and promising for TNBC.

There's nothing approved yet (AFAIK) for people who are not HER2+, nothing approved yet in the way of active immunotherapy, no CAR T cell therapies approved for solid tumors yet, no approved checkpoint inhibitors. It's all still in research. A quick check of clinical trials found 93 active trials for breast cancer immunotherapy (66 currently recruiting) so it might be worth a look at more than just nivolumab.

urdrago71

Keytruda is still going thru trials level III. I just was offered the opportunity to sign up doesnt mean I will be picked..

Parrynd1

I was on an Immunotherapy trial called IPI 549 and I believe it’s still enrolling if you qualify. It pairs the study drug with Opdivo (aka Nivolumab). I was also on a PARP inhibitor trial in 2016/17 that worked really well. You might want to check for either. Good luck. Hu

Mudpie

Thank You. What is TNBC?

I have stage IV er+ pr ductal carcinoma. Mets to bones.

No Herp2

Mudpie

Thank You.

LoriCA

TNBC is triple negative breast cancer = ER- PR- HER2-.

Good luck getting into that trial urdrago71!

Parrynd1 was the parp inhibitor talazoparib (Talzenna)? That just received FDA approval yesterday for BRCA-mutated HER2-.

Parrynd1

Lori- Yes, it was! I was only on it for 3 months (was only stage 3 at the time) so that was the length of the trial. In that time it cleared my lymphnode, and secondary tumor. It also shrunk my big 4.5cm tumor in half. Plus the only SE’s I had were some mild daily nausea, and thinning hair. I hope to go back to it in the future.

LoriCA

That's awesome Parrynd1! I know that TNBC is a tough combination to treat and I'm sure everyone is happy to see another successful drug approved for it. Must be a great feeling to know that you played a part in getting it approved - and that you had such a fantastic response.

Lori

Meow13

Happy to hear there are some new drugs out there.

Mudpie

So, since I am confused, Im trying to pair this down to the simplest of terms:

Immunotherapy trials are only for Herp2+ patients, or Triple Negative patients.

Is that correct?

Please correct if I'm wrong. Alot of the verbage is throwing me off.

LoriCA

Not always, you have to read the inclusion/exclusion criteria for each trial. For example, the Phase II trial for Pembrolizumab is only for people who are HR+, HER2-.

Do you know your HER2 status? It's either positive, negative or equivocal and it's important to know because it plays a major role in your treatment. You should know three things from your pathology - HR positive or negative, PR positive or negative, and HER2 positive/negative/equivocal.

Mudpie

Thank You.

I know all the details of my diagnosis.

I've actually written them a few times in the thread and on my origional post.

On my end, the site is kind of glitchy and my posts turn up in areas that aren't nested under the questions I'm trying to answer. Also, in Chrome a drop down menu covers the “send" icon so I cant send a reply back n Chrome, at all.

I was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma ER+ PR+ HER-

I had a 9 year period with no diease.

Came back to bones, now stage IV.

My confusion is only about the clinical trials because this is my first investsgation them.

I hope this post can be seen, seems like computer gremlins got a hold of a few of my responces.

Mudpie

Kattysmith

Mudpie, I'm in a similar boat. Stage IV since 2015, now with very active mets in my liver and standard treatments haven't been cutting it. I've just been recruited by MD Anderson for a Phase 1 clinical trial that pairs Nivolumab with a brand new drug known only by its initials so far. I was preparing to qualify a different trial there, but an opening suddenly came up and my doctor thought this would be an even better option, so I took the plunge and signed consent. And boy, does it feel like a plunge off a scenic cliff with an unfamiliar parachute!!! Assuming my insurance approves my participation, I'll have a battery of tests to see if I qualify. I am ER/PR+ / HER-, but my liver tumors (liver mets were discovered last spring) have a couple of mutations, so I'm not 100% sure what's happening there.

The only thing that really bothers me is that I had my last (ineffective, unfortunately) treatment in late September. My scan was in the 3rd week of October and that's when the plan changed, and standard treatments were off the table. Now, it will be about 3 more weeks before all of my tests are done and I find out if I can join this trial. My liver mets are very active; they are partying down in there, so I will have been without any treatment for several weeks. Fortunately,as of this moment my blood work is great, my overall health is great, I have no pain or edema...so far. But still...yikes. Three weeks is a long time to hold my breath!