Dr. Arend on Novel Combination Strategies in Gynecologic Cancer

Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, attending physician, Medical Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the role of the microenvironment for the cancer treatment of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). According to Bardia, there is not much that we know, but we do know from preclinical models that the tumor microenvironment plays a very important role in tumor progression. The stromal and cancer cell interaction is an important piece. In terms of therapeutic approach, there is not much known as to what would be the best strategy to really target the tumor microenvironment. However, there is interest in immunotherapy. PD-1 inhibitors affect the cancer cells and the T cells, but a lot more needs to be done to target the microenvironment, including the macrophages and the fibroblast, all of which play an important role in the progression of cancer, Barida adds.