Dr. Anders on Leveraging ADCs in Metastatic TNBC

Carey K. Anders, MD, medical oncologist, medical director, Brain and Spine Metastases Program, Duke Cancer Center, Duke Health, discusses leveraging antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in the treatment of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (mTNBC). 

The phase 3 ASCENT trial (NCT02574455) demonstrated a significant survival improvement with sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy) vs single-agent chemotherapy patients with mTNBC. Much was learned from this study regarding ADCs in this patient population, according to Anders, as it was the first agent of its kind to be approved by the FDA for use in this patient population. The sacituzumab compound targets TROP2 on the cancer cell and then delivers a topoisomerase inhibitor payload, Anders explains.

Other HER2-directed ADCs are showing promising activity in patients with HER2 non-amplified disease, Anders adds. Many times, a patient will have HER2-amplified TNBC and a 1+ protein expression, or 2+ with FISH non-amplified–disease, Anders adds. Novel ADCs are needed for the HER2-low subset of patients, which accounts for a significant proportion of those with TNBC, Anders concludes.