A case of successful use of cytokines in combination treatment of breast cancer: clinical case

BACKGROUND: Treatment of HER2/neu-positive breast cancer presents significant challenges. Almost 50% of patients fail to achieve complete tumor regression using neoadjuvant antitumor therapy standards. It is important to search for new approaches to overcome the limitations of targeted therapy, reduce the side effects of antitumor treatment without losing its effectiveness. One such direction may be the use of cytokine gene therapy drugs — interferon gamma and a hybrid drug of recombinant tumor necrosis factor thymosin α1.

CLINICAL CASE DESCRIPTION: A patient with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer cT2N3M0, stage III, non-luminal, HER2/neu positive (ER 0, PR 0, HER2/neu 3+, Ki67 70%) underwent 2 courses of treatment according to the paclitaxel, trastuzumab, pertuzumab regimen and consulted the clinic due to poor tolerability of the therapy. The patient, while continuing standard antitumor treatment, was prescribed cytokine gene therapy with interferon-gamma and recombinant tumor necrosis factor thymosin α1. After 2 courses of combination therapy, the patient noted an improvement in her quality of life. After the 8th course of treatment, complete regression of the tumor in the mammary gland, axillary and supraclavicular lymph nodes was achieved, confirmed by mammography, computed tomography and morphological examination of the removed breast tissue. An increase in TNFα and Karnofsky index was noted against the background of the treatment. Currently, the patient continues to receive maintenance courses of cytokinesigenetic therapy.

CONCLUSION: The inclusion of cytokine genetic therapy drugs in the neoadjuvant drug therapy improved the patient's quality of life, potentiated the effect of antitumor drugs and achieved complete tumor regression.