Prognostic Factors for Advanced/Recurrent Breast Cancer Treated With Immune-cell Therapy.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIM: Advanced/recurrent breast cancer (ARBC) still has a poor prognosis; therefore, new treatment strategies are required. In this retrospective study, we aimed to investigate the efficacy of immune-cell therapy using T lymphocytes activated in vitro with or without dendritic cell vaccination in combination with standard therapies in terms of the survival of patients with ARBC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 127 patients with ARBC were enrolled in this study. The correlation between overall survival and various clinical factors of each ARBC subset was examined by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis demonstrated that performance status (PS) 0, the absence of prior chemotherapy, liver/pleural metastasis, and the presence of combined surgery in ARBC and PS 0 or the absence of liver metastasis in the HR+/HER- subset are indications for immune-cell therapy. CONCLUSION: A survival benefit could be potentially obtained by a combination of immune-cell therapy with other therapies in ARBC patients.