Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy has revolutionized the field of cancer immunotherapy. Even though it has shown a durable response in some solid tumors, several patients do not respond to these agents, irrespective of predictive biomarker (PD-L1, MSI, TMB) status. Multiple preclinical, as well as early-phase clinical studies are ongoing for combining immune checkpoint inhibitors with anti-cancer and/or non-anti-cancer drugs for beneficial therapeutic interactions. In this review, we discuss the mechanistic basis behind the combination of immune checkpoint inhibitors with other drugs currently being studied in early phase clinical studies including conventional chemotherapy drugs, metronomic chemotherapy, thalidomide and its derivatives, epigenetic therapy, targeted therapy, inhibitors of DNA damage repair, other small molecule inhibitors, anti-tumor antibodies hormonal therapy, multiple checkpoint Inhibitors, microbiome therapeutics, oncolytic viruses, radiotherapy, drugs targeting myeloid-derived suppressor cells, drugs targeting Tregs, drugs targeting renin-angiotensin system, drugs targeting the autonomic nervous system, metformin, etc. We also highlight how translational research strategies can help better understand the true therapeutic potential of such combinations.

e12579 Background: Metaplastic breast carcinoma is a rare histological subtype that has basal like characteristics and is reported to have a poorer prognosis than no specific type/ductal carcinoma (ductal/NST). We aimed to investigate clinicopathological features and outcome from a single institution based registry. Methods: Clinical records of breast cancer patients treated during 2012-2019 were screened and 31 cases of metaplastic breast carcinoma were found. Descriptive analysis was done for patients’ demographics and clinicopathological features. Kaplan Meier method was used to assess survival outcomes. Results: The incidence of metaplastic breast cancer was 0.5% (31/6180) in our study out of which the most common histopathological differentiation was squamous (45.16%). The second most common was sarcomatoid histology (32.25%), followed by chondroid (9.68%) and mixed histology (12.9%). The median age at diagnosis was 60 years ranging from 28 to 82 years. 64.15% of patients were post-menopausal. At presentation, three (9.67%) patients had metastatic disease while the rest were diagnosed with early (51.61%) and locally advanced cancers (38.72%). Triple negative cancers (ER/PR/Her2 negative) constituted the vast majority with 22 cases (80.6%) while hormone receptor positive (ER/PR positive, Her-2 negative) and Her-2 neu positive (ER/PR negative) made up the rest with three patients (9.67%) each group respectively. The median overall survival was found to be 39 months (95% CI 25.46 - 52.53). Conclusions: After a thorough search in PubMed and Google Scholar, we could not find a larger case series from India with clinical outcomes for metaplastic breast carcinoma. Our results suggest that metaplastic breast carcinoma is a heterogenous disease. Outcomes of metaplastic breast carcinoma are relatively worse when compared with literature for triple negative breast cancer and breast cancer in general. Further biological understanding may offer valuable insights for newer targets and therapeutic approaches to metaplastic breast cancer.

Background. Induction docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (TPF) chemotherapy followed by definitive concurrent chemoradiation remains the standard of care in locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck cancers despite which the survival remains low. So, we analyzed the efficacy and adverse effect profile of the addition of nimotuzumab to standard TPF induction chemotherapy. Methods. We included 20 patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Patients were administered with induction chemotherapy with nimotuzumab plus docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (TPF + N) followed by definitive concurrent chemoradiation with carboplatin. Treatment responses were assessed by PET-CT following induction chemotherapy and concurrent chemoradiation. Response rates, survival, and adverse effects data were tabulated and analyzed using the Kaplan Meier method. Results. At a minimum follow-up of two years, the median progression-free survival (PFS) and median overall survival (OS) were 16 months and 38 months, respectively. PFS and OS were not reached (NR) in patients who showed a complete radiological response (CR). Median PFS and OS in patients who had partial response were 17.6 and 34.5 months, respectively. All subsites of primary including oral cavity, hypopharynx, and oropharynx showed similar response rates and survival. Overall the treatment was well tolerated with predominantly grade 1/2 toxicities. Conclusions. Patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer could possibly have a better response and survival with nimotuzumab added to the standard TPF regimen. A complete response may serve as a good surrogate for survival irrespective of the primary site of head and neck cancer.

No abstract

No abstract