Immune-related adverse events as predictors of pathological complete response in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer treated with pembrolizumab
PURPOSE: Neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy improved pathological complete response (pCR) rates in early triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, the relationship between immune-related adverse events (irAEs) and treatment response remains unclear. This study evaluated the association between the development of irAEs and pCR in TNBC patients receiving neoadjuvant pembrolizumab-based therapy. METHOD: In this multicenter retrospective study, early TNBC patients who received neoadjuvant pembrolizumab-based therapy were evaluated. Clinicopathologic features, irAE occurrence, and pCR rates were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: = 0.01). Both univariate and multivariate analyses confirmed a significant association between irAE development and pCR. CONCLUSION: In patients with early TNBC treated with neoadjuvant pembrolizumab, irAEs occurred more often in those achieving pCR. These findings suggest that irAEs may reflect enhanced immune activation and could serve as a potential indicator of treatment response. Further prospective studies are needed to validate this observation and clarify its clinical relevance.
Authors
- Lamia Şeker Can (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3838-1753)
- Nargız Majidova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2575-5819)
- Eda Tanrıkulu Şimşek
- Hasibe Bilge Gür
- Ozge Yetginoglu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0684-8710)
- Rukiye Arıkan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2688-1515)
- Özge Gümüşay (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6236-9829)
- İlhan Hacıbekiroğlu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0333-7405)
- Taha Koray Şahin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3590-0426)
- Ali Kaan Güren (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3562-5006)
- Murad Guliyev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2981-8098)
- Nebi Serkan Demirci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5943-889X)
- Cagla Karaoglu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1737-4469)
- Fatih Kemik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6085-1921)
- İsmail Oğuz Kara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4963-2028)
- Sedat Biter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1053-0668)
- Salih Tünbekici (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8804-7636)
- Tuğçe Kübra Güneş (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7917-2459)
- Aysun Fatma Akkuş
- Fatih Selçuk Biricik
- Nadiye Sever
- Ahmet Unlu
- O. Altunok
- Muhammet Ali Kaplan
- Deniz Can Güven
- Tuğba Kaya
- İsmail Nazlı
- Barış Gezici
- Delyadil Karakaş
- Adem Deligönül
- Osman Köstek
- Murat Sarı
- İbrahim Vedat Bayoğlu
- Kübra Akkaya
- Nazım Can Demircan
- Sercan Aksoy
- Banu Öztürk
- Elif Atağ
Institutions
- Dicle University (TR)
- Trakya University (TR)
- Bursa Uludağ Üni̇versi̇tesi̇ (TR)
- Anadolu University (TR)
- Koç University (TR)
- University of Health Science (KH)
- Dokuz Eylül University (TR)
- Bezmiâlem Vakıf Üniversitesi (TR)
- Acıbadem University (TR)
- Ege University (TR)
- Dr Lütfi Kırdar Kartal Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (TR)
- Antalya Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (TR)
- Ümraniye Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (TR)
- Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa (TR)
- Sakarya Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (TR)
- City Hospital (GB)
- Bakırköy Dr.Sadi Konuk Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (TR)
- Haydarpaşa Numune Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (TR)
- Health Center (US)
- Cukurova University (TR)
- Hacettepe University (TR)
- Marmara University (TR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Immunotherapy
- Published
- 2026-04-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/1750743x.2026.2662201
- Primary Topic
- Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00