Intratumoral dendritic cell immunotherapy controls dissemination of metastasis-initiating cancer cells, even in patients with metastatic breast cancer. (PubMed, J Immunother Cancer)
We observed a reduced burden of MICs in the bone marrow (BM) of patients with stage I-III HER2+BC treated with IT DC1, compared with untreated patients and those treated with standard neoadjuvant HER2 therapies paclitaxel, with or without carboplatin, trastuzumab and pertuzumab (Taxol, Carboplatin, Herceptin and Perjeta or THP). We also treated a single patient with de novo stage IV HER2+ MBC with trastuzumab, pertuzumab and tamoxifen in combination with IT DC1. Remarkably, this treatment resulted in near-complete regression of primary tumor and metastatic disease, along with inhibition of MIC seeding in the BM. These findings suggest an intriguing strategy to inhibit the dissemination of MICs and prevent further overt metastasis in all patients with BC.