SLUCare doctor applauds new treatment for breast cancer

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — A local breast cancer surgeon applauds the FDA for approving the first immunotherapy regimen to treat some types of breast cancer.  It is a combination of therapy involving immunotherapy (Tecentriq) and chemotherapy (Abraxane)."One of the ways that cancer can avoid being killed off by the body's normal mechanisms is by hiding from the immune system," said SLU Care's Dr. Theresa Schwartz, a breast cancer surgeon at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital. "What this new drug will do is make that cancer cell no longer able to hide. It allows it to be seen by the normal cells in our body that will kill off things that are abnormal. It helps those normal cells to be able to see the cancer cell and target it "But the FDA did not approve this immunotherapy treatment for all types of breast cancer.  "Those who can use it are women with a type of cancer that has a specific protein on the edge of it, " said Dr. Schwartz.  "It's called PD-L1. This protein is not very common. What this new drug does is target that protein that's hanging off a cancer cell. We are only using this in women who have certain aggressive types of breast cancer, the kinds that don't have a lot of treatment options. The FDA has approved this for women who have triple negative cancer or the kind of breast cancer that doesn't respond to hormones and really only has chemotherapy as a treatment option and also with those women who have disease that has spread outside of the breast to distant organs."Another stipulation is that the cancer cannot be surgically removed. Dr. Schwartz calls this treatment a glimpse into the future. "Honestly, this is quite exciting because this is the tip of the iceberg of what we can do from a scientific standpoint to better target breast cancer cells," said Dr. Schwartz. "This new drug shows us what we're going to be able to do as research gets more and more advanced to help our immune systems see those cancer cells and go after them."Tecentriq, the brand name of the immunotherapy drug, had already been approved to treat certain types of lung and urinary cancers.