Overview
- TIM3 acts as an immune checkpoint on tumor cells, enabling micrometastatic breast cancer cells to evade immune elimination and seed distant organs.
- Preclinical mouse studies demonstrated that blocking TIM3 prevented about 80% of breast cancer metastases in animal models.
- Retrospective analysis of over 250 patients showed TIM3-positive tumors had five-year survival rates of 20% compared with 90% in TIM3-negative locally advanced cases.
- Current clinical trials of TIM3 inhibitors target advanced cancers but do not address early metastatic prevention.
- Researchers are drafting prevention trial protocols in collaboration with Grupo GEICAM to test TIM3 blockade as adjuvant therapy for TIM3-positive, triple-negative breast cancer patients.