Abstract PS16-06: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy with the addition of platinum and pembrolizumab in TNBC: A single-center real-world study
Authors: Kim Min Ji , Kook Yoonwon , Baek Seung Ho , Kim Junghyun , Moon Sohyun , Lee Seung Eun , Kim Jee Hung , Bae Soong June , Ahn Sung Gwe , Jeong Joon 
Published: May 2024

Background

Previous studies have presented compelling evidence suggesting that the inclusion of platinum agents alongside anthracyclines and taxanes could potentially enhance treatment outcomes in high-risk triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Moreover, pembrolizumab has been integrated into clinical practice as a part of standard-of-care for non-metastatic TNBC with high risk. In light of these findings, we undertook a real-world study to investigate the impact of incorporating platinum agents and pembrolizumab on achieving pathologic complete response (pCR) in TNBC patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Furthermore, we specifically examined the influence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) on the treatment outcomes.

Patients and Methods

In this real-world study conducted at Gangnam Severance Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea, we analyzed a cohort of 398 patients with TNBC who underwent surgery following NAC between March 2007 and November 2022. Among them, 247 patients received an anthracycline-taxanes (A-T), 120 received a carboplatin regimen including A-T, and 31 received a pembrolizumab regimen including A-T-carboplatin as part of their neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment. TIL was evaluated in biopsied samples prior to NAC according to the guideline of TIL international working group. The high TIL was defined with a cutoff of 50%.

Results

Among the 398 patients analyzed, 87 (21.9%) had high TIL tumors. The pCR rates were 32% in the anthracycline-taxane (A-T) regimen group, 57% in the A-T-carboplatin regimen group, and 68% in the pembrolizumab with A-T-carboplatin regimen group. Within the high TIL group, the pCR rate did not increase with the addition of carboplatin (51.8% in the A-T group and 41.7% in the A-T-carboplatin group), but reached 85.7% with the addition of pembrolizumab and carboplatin. Among the low TIL group, the pCR rate increased from 26.7% to 61.1% with the addition of carboplatin, but there was no difference in the pCR rate between the carboplatin and pembrolizumab groups (61.1% and 60.9%, respectively). In clinically node-positive patients, the pCR rate significantly increased with pembrolizumab in the high TIL group (40.9% versus 100%, p=0.035). However, in low TIL patients, the addition of carboplatin alone significantly increased the pCR rate to 62.3%, whereas the addition of pembrolizumab did not show the same effect.

Conclusions

Our real-world data consistently demonstrates an increased pCR rate with the addition of carboplatin and pembrolizumab. Among patients with high TIL, the addition of carboplatin did not result in an elevated pCR rate. However, the addition of pembrolizumab tended to maximize the pCR rate, surpassing 80%. On the other hand, among patients with low TIL, the addition of carboplatin significantly increased the pCR rate, while the addition of pembrolizumab did not have the same effect. Efforts should be made to improve the response to pembrolizumab-containing regimens for patients with low baseline TIL levels.

Citation Format: Min Ji Kim, Yoonwon Kook, Seung Ho Baek, Junghyun Kim, Sohyun Moon, Seung Eun Lee, Jee Hung Kim, Soong June Bae, Sung Gwe Ahn, Joon Jeong. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy with the addition of platinum and pembrolizumab in TNBC: A single-center real-world study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PS16-06.