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Neumann et al. J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2018;4:13 Journal of Cancer
DOI: 10.20517/2394-4722.2017.60 Metastasis and Treatment

Commentary Open Access

Targeting adenosine receptor 2B in triple negative
breast cancer

Carola A. Neumann , Kevin Levine , Steffi Oesterreich 1,2
1,2
1,2
1 Department of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Hillman Cancer Center, Womens Cancer
Research
Center, Magee Womens Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
2 Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.

Correspondence to: Dr. Carola A. Neumann, Department of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center Hillman Cancer Center, Womens Cancer Research Center, Magee Womens Research Institute, 204 Craft Ave, Pittsburgh, PA
15213, USA. E-mail: neumannc@upmc.edu
How to cite this article: Neumann CA, Levine K, Oesterreich S. Targeting adenosine receptor 2B in triple negative breast cancer. J
Cancer Metastasis Treat 2018;4:13. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-4722.2017.60

Received: 26 Oct 2017 First Decision: 29 Dec 2017 Revised: 8 Mar 2018 Accepted: 8 Mar 2018 Published: 15 Mar 2018

Science Editor: William P. Schiemann Copy Editor: Jun-Yao Li Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

In the review “Role of adenosine in tumor progression: focus on A2B receptor as potential therapeutic
target”, Sorrentino and Morello make a compelling case for considering adenosine 2B receptor (A2BR) as a
target in cancer therapy (J Cancer Metastasis Treat 2017;3:127-38). A large body of evidence has accumulated
suggesting A2BR to play an active role in tumor immune suppression and metastasis. Thus, this commentary
will discuss the intriguing possibility of targeting A2BR in specific breast cancers that express high levels of
A2BR and attract infiltrating immune cells.

TRIPLE NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER IS SUSCEPTIVE TO IMMUNE MODULATION
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer that disproportionally affects
[1,2]
younger women and those of African origins, compared with Caucasians . TNBC is devoid of the three
receptors that classify and define most mammary cancers: estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR)
[3]
and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) . The lack of these receptors reduces the efficacy
of targeted therapies for this cancer type, limiting treatment options to chemotherapeutic agents, ionizing
radiation and surgery. TNBC patients are therefore in dire need for novel targeted therapies.

Breast cancer has long been thought of as a non-immunogenic malignancy. However, a growing body of
evidence suggests that this is not the case for all breast cancers. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are
the most widely studied immune cells and include T cells and B cells. TILs are part of a larger category of
infiltrating immune cells that include natural killer (NK) cells, macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells,

© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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