Pembrolizumab added to neoadjuvant chemotherapy is a standard treatment for non-metastatic triple-negative breast cancer , but the benefit of using reduced doses remains unclear. To explore this, a study assessed whether low-dose pembrolizumab could improve pathological complete response rates when combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy in 157 patients with triple-negative breast cancer. The study found that adding low-dose pembrolizumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy increased pathological complete response rates to 53.8% compared with 40.5% with chemotherapy alone, an absolute difference of 13.3%.
Among patients who underwent surgery, complete response rates were 56.7% versus 41.0%, respectively, reflecting an absolute difference of 15.7%. Grade ≥3 toxicities occurred in 50% of patients in the low-dose pembrolizumab group compared with 59.5% in the control group. These findings suggest…
