Short course durvalumab remodels the tumour immune microenvironment in early stage triple negative breast cancer
Published on 25 October 2026
Dr Joana Ribeiro speaks to ecancer about the first results from the phase II UNLOCK 14 (POP-DURVA) trial, which evaluated short-course preoperative durvalumab monotherapy in patients with stage I triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).
Among 71 patients, the pathological complete response rate was 1.4%, while the objective response rate was 11.6%.
Despite these low response rates, durvalumab induced substantial immune remodelling, increasing stromal tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes and PD-L1 expression, promoting the emergence of tertiary lymphoid structures and converting some immune-excluded tumours to an inflamed phenotype.
Dr Ribeiro says that these findings highlight the biological activity of short-course immunotherapy and the need for integrated biomarkers to better identify patients likely to benefit.