Next-generation cancer Immunotherapies for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer treatment

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is considered one of the most uncurable malignancies due to its high aggressivity and great metastatic potential, which leads to early recurrences and a very poor life expectancy. A novel engineered oncolytic adenoviral vector, AdV5/3-D24-ICOSL-CD40L, has been evaluated in in-vitro assays based on 2D culture, to assess its efficacy in triple-negative cell lines. Moreover, a potential combination therapy which includes Paclitaxel, one of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic agents in breast cancer treatment, AdV5/3-D24-ICOSL-CD40L, and the anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody Pembrolizumab, has been tested both in 2D and 3D cell culture models, to better understand the therapeutic efficacy in an integrated system, composed of tumor cells and immune cells, whose aim is to mimic the complexity of the tumor microenvironment and to screen and select the treatment schedule to be used in future in vivo studies.