New Treatment for Triple Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is a major killer in women the world over. Despite attempts by health organizations to create awareness, screening methods to detect the cancer early, and the availability of effective and safe medications, there are still a large number of women who present with the cancer at a late stage when it has spread beyond the breast, often with fatal consequences. Triple negative breast cancer is a type of breast cancer that lacks three well categorized molecular components, the progesterone receptors, the estrogen receptors and the HER-2 receptors. Pembrolizumab, an immune-based treatment, may be effective in treating triple negative breast cancer that has spread to distant sites, irrespective of whether the patient had received prior treatments for the cancer.