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Breast Cancer: Targeted and Immunotherapies

Targeted therapies are designed to kill cancer cells, while sparing normal cells. Immunotherapies help the immune system detect and attack cancer cells. Learn more about how they are used for breast cancer.

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Targeted and Immunotherapies for Breast Cancer

This section covers the following topics:

PARP inhibitors

Other targeted therapy

Immunotherapies

Tables with common breast cancer immunotherapies and targeted therapies

What is ?

is a type of cancer treatment designed to attack or kill cancer cells, while sparing normal cells as much as possible. They are designed to target abnormal proteins, receptors or genes that are found in cancer cells or the surrounding tissue.

PARP inhibitors

PARP inhibitors are a type of that works by blocking a protein that the body uses to repair damage. They were initially developed to treat cancers in people with an inherited or mutation.

For breast cancer, two PARP inhibitors have received FDA-approval as for treating people with an inherited mutation:
- Lynparza ()
- ()
For people with early breast cancer at high risk for recurrence:
- Lynparza may be used as treatment after chemotherapy in people with an inherited or mutation. Lynparza is approved for patients with high-risk, early breast cancer and an inherited or mutation.

Researchers are studying new ways to use PARP inhibitors to treat breast cancer, including:

for people with an in a different gene that repairs damage (for example: , or ).
for people who do not have an inherited gene mutation, but their tumor tested positive for an acquired mutation in a gene that repairs damage.

Visit our Featured Research section for more information.

Other targeted therapies

Targeted therapies are often given to people based on specific changes in their cancer cells. Tumor testing can help doctors identify the patients most likely to benefit from a . Common targeted therapies used in breast cancer include:

Triple-negative breast cancers

, that has progressed may be treated with the drug Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan).

or HER2-low breast cancers

breast cancers of all stages are often treated with drugs that target the protein. Common anti-HER2 therapies include Herceptin (trastuzumab), Perjeta (pertuzumab) and Tukysa (tucatinib), Phesgo (pertuzumab, trastuzumab and hyaluronidase) and Enhertu (T-DXd).
or advanced HER2-low breast cancers may be treated with the anti-HER2 drug Enhertu.

Hormone receptor-positive breast cancers

advanced breast cancers are often treated with CDK4/6 inhibitors. CDK4/6 inhibitors target proteins found in some breast cancers called CDK inhibitors. The three CDK4/6 inhibitors approved for use in breast cancer are: Ibrance (palbociclib), Kisqali (ribociclib) and Verzenio (abemaciclib).
breast cancers that test positive for a tumor called PIK3CA may be treated with the drug Piqray (alpelisib). PIK3CA is an acquired gene mutation found in some ER-positive breast cancers.
The drug Truqap (capivasertib) combined with fulvestrant is approved to treat , advanced or breast cancer with a mutation in , PIK3 or AKT1 genes which recurred or got worse after standard hormone therapy.

In the News

Study : Enhertu shows promising results for HER2-low and HER2-ultralow metastatic breast cancer

Update : New drug combination for the second treatment of some HR-positive advanced breast cancers

Update : Targeted therapy for early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer continues to show benefit

What is ?

Immunotherapies are cancer treatments that help the body’s immune system detect and attack cancer cells. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a type of used to treat several types of cancer, including breast cancer. Some cancer cells can switch off the immune system. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are drugs that prevent this from happening. This allows the immune system to find, unmask and destroy cancer cells. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are approved for treating breast cancer in the following situations:

Keytruda (pembrolizumab) is approved in combination with chemotherapy for treatment of that is or locally recurrent and unresectable that tests positive for a called .
Keytruda is approved for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer that is at high risk for recurrence. In this setting, Keytruda is used along with chemotherapy as therapy before surgery. Following surgery, Keytruda is continued alone.

See our section for more information.

Common targeted and immunotherapies used for breast cancer

Targeted and immunotherapies for early-stage (stages 1, 2 or 3) breast cancer : Table listing the targeted and immunotherapies used for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer

Name of Drug	Cancer	Indication		Type of Agent
Herceptin (trastuzumab)	Early	The treatment of breast cancer	overexpression ()	Antibody targeting receptors
Perjeta (pertuzumab)	Locally advanced, inflammatory or early	Combined with Herceptin (trastuzumab) and docetaxel as treatment before surgery ()	overexpression ()	Antibody targeting receptors
Phesgo (pertuzumab, trastuzumab combined injection)	Early	Before surgery () treatment for tumors larger than 2 cm or node-positive, or After surgery () treatment for early breast cancer that has a high likelihood of coming back	overexpression ()	Antibody targeting receptors
Keytruda (pembrolizumab)	Early TNBC at high risk for recurrence	Before surgery Keytruda is used along with chemotherapy as therapy. Following surgery, Keytruda is continued alone.	Triple-negative (, )	Type of known as an immune checkpoint inhibitor
Lynparza ()	Early breast cancer at high risk for recurrence	Given for one year as after completion of or chemotherapy and local treatment (surgery and, or radiation)	or inherited mutation ()	Type of known as a
Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine)	Early	therapy for people with early breast cancer who still have disease after taxane and treatment with Herceptin	overexpression ()	Antibody targeting receptors
Kisqali (ribociclib)	Early	In combination with an aromatase inhibitor or Femara (letrozole) for the treatment of , , node-positive, 2 or 3 breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.	,	Type of known as a kinase inhibitor
Verzenio (abemaciclib)	Early	In combination with endocrine therapy (tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor) for the treatment of , , node-positive, early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence.	,	Type of known as a kinase inhibitor

Targeted and immunotherapies for advanced or metastatic breast cancer : Table listing the targeted and immunotherapies used for the treatment of advanced or metastatic breast cancer

Name of Drug	Cancer	Indication		Type of Agent
Perjeta (pertuzumab)	Locally advanced, inflammatory or early	Combined with Herceptin (trastuzumab) and docetaxel as treatment before surgery ()	overexpression ()	Antibody targeting receptors
Datroway (datopotamab deruxtecan-dlnk)		Treatment for cancers that have progressed after hormone therapy and chemotherapy	Hormone receptor position (),	Antibody-drug conjugate (chemotherapy attached to antibody targeting TROP-2)
Enhertu (fam-trastuzumab-deruxtecan-nxki)		Treatment for people who have: received a prior anti-HER2 therapy for breast cancer, or had their breast cancer come back during or within 6 months of completing treatment for their breast cancer	overexpression ()	Antibody-drug conjugate (chemotherapy attached to antibody targeting receptor)
Enhertu (fam-trastuzumab-deruxtecan-nxki)		Treatment for people who have () positive, HER2-low or HER2-ultralow breast cancer that came back or got worse after one or more hormone therapies in the setting.	and HER2-low or HER2-ultralow	Antibody-drug conjugate (chemotherapy attached to antibody targeting receptor)
Enhertu (fam-trastuzumab-deruxtecan-nxki)		Treatment for people with tumors that are HER2-low who: received chemotherapy in the setting and whose cancer no longer responds to hormonal therapy received chemotherapy in the setting and whose cancer came back within 6 months of completing chemotherapy	HER2-low	Antibody-drug conjugate (chemotherapy attached to antibody targeting receptor)
Enhertu (fam-trastuzumab-deruxtecan-nxki)		Treatment of unresectable or HER2-positive (including breast cancer) in people who have received prior systemic treatment and have no satisfactory alternative treatment options		Antibody-drug conjugate (chemotherapy attached to antibody targeting receptor)
Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine)		For treatment in people whose cancer got worse after receiving Herceptin and chemotherapy in the following settings: for disease, or as therapy, and experienced disease recurrence during or within 6 months of completing therapy	overexpression ()	Antibody targeting receptors
Tukysa (tucatinib)		In combination with Herceptin (trastuzumab) to treat cancer which has progressed after at least one prior treatment with an anti-HER2 treatment in the setting	overexpression ()	known as a kinase inhibitor that targets receptors
Trodelvy (sacituzumab govitecan-hziy)		For breast cancer that progressed, recurred or did not respond to at least two previous lines of treatment	Triple-negative (, )	Antibody-drug conjugate (chemotherapy attached to antibody found in )
Afinitor (everolimus)		Combined with Aromasin (exemestane) for postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer which progressed with Femara (letrozole) or Arimidex (anastrozole)	and	MTOR inhibitor (type of kinase inhibitor)
Orserdu (elacestrant)		Used alone to treat men or postmenopausal women with , breast cancer, which progressed after at least one line of hormone therapy therapy	, with an ESR1 mutation	Type of hormonal therapy known as SERD (selective receptor degrader or downregulator)
Piqray (alpelisib)		Combined with Faslodex (fulvestrant) as treatment in men or post-menopausal women who progressed on or after treatment with hormone therapy	, and positive for a PIK3CA tumor mutation	known as a kinase inhibitor that blocks the PIK3 pathway
Truqap (capivasertib)		Combined with fulvestrant as treatment for , advanced or breast cancer which recurred or got worse after standard hormone therapy	, PIK3 or AKT1 mutation in the tumor	known as a kinase inhibitor that blocks the AKT pathway
Verzenio (abemaciclib)		Used alone to treat breast cancer that has progressed after treatment with hormone therapy and chemotherapy in the setting	and	known as a kinase inhibitor that blocks the CDK4/6 pathway
Verzenio (abemaciclib)		Combined with Faslodex (fulvestrant) as treatment in women whose disease progressed following endocrine therapy	and	known as a kinase inhibitor that blocks the CDK4/6 pathway
Ibrance (palbociclib)		Combined with an aromatase inhibitor as treatment of advanced cancer as initial hormone therapy in postmenopausal women or in men	and	known as a kinase inhibitor that blocks the CDK4/6 pathway
Ibrance (palbociclib)		Combined with Faslodex (fulvestrant) as treatment in postmenopausal women or in men whose disease progressed following endocrine therapy	and	known as a kinase inhibitor that blocks the CDK4/6 pathway
Kisqali (ribociclib)		Combined with an aromatase inhibitor for the treatment of pre/perimenopausal or postmenopausal women as initial hormone based therapy	and	known as a kinase inhibitor that blocks the CDK4/6 pathway
Kisqali (ribociclib)		Combined with Faslodex (fulvestrant) for the treatment of postmenopausal women, as initial hormone based therapy	and	known as a kinase inhibitor that blocks the CDK4/6 pathway
Lynparza ()		For treatment of patients who have previously received chemotherapy, or hormone therapy for patients with hormone receptor disease	or mutation and	Type of known as a
()		For treatment of breast cancer	or mutation and	Type of known as a
Keytruda (pembrolizumab)		Combined with chemotherapy for treatment of locally recurrent unresectable or triple negative breast cancer	Triple-negative ( and ) and PD-L1-positive	Type of known as an immune checkpoint inhibitor

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Below are some of our featured research studies looking at new ways to treat breast cancer using targeted or immunotherapies. To search for additional studies, visit our Search and Enroll Tool.