Targeted therapies use medicines to identify and attack specific targets found on or inside cancer cells. The goal of targeted therapies is to slow down and/or kill cancer cells by targeting proteins and processes that they need to survive.
If you have a BRCA mutation, your doctor may include a poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitor in your TNBC treatment plan. Cancer cells with BRCA mutations rely on a protein called PARP to repair small defects in their DNA. A PARP inhibitor stops that repair from happening, killing the cancer cells.
The PARP inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) is approved for use after surgery in certain patients with early-stage, high-risk breast cancer. Olaparib is typically given for one year. Talazoparib (Talzenna) is another PARP inhibitor approved for patients who have metastatic or locally advanced HER2-negative breast cancer and who inherited the BRCA1/2 mutation.
Another type of targeted therapy is an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), which helps target and deliver chemotherapy directly into cancer cells. Sacituzumab govitecan-hziy (Trodelvy) is an ADC approved for treating adults who have metastatic TNBC that has progressed despite the patient having tried at least two other treatment regimens. Trodelvy targets a protein called Trop-2, which researchers have found in a high proportion of TNBC patients.
Compared to standard chemotherapy, Trodelvy improved survival for patients with metastatic TNBC enrolled in a clinical trial. Trodelvy is currently being investigated for early stage breast cancer. Ask your doctor about adding antibody-drug conjugates to your chemotherapy treatment plan.
A note: Treating triple negative breast cancer is incredibly important. It also comes with some side effects. We know that reading a list of potential side effects can be scary and stressful—just because something is on this list doesn’t mean you will definitely experience it. But if we’re being honest, you will likely face something on this list. We’ve faced them ourselves. And we want you to be prepared to tackle it equipped with resources and support. We’re here for you.
You can learn more about recognizing, managing, and minimizing these side effects in our resources section.
