Rewiring the tumor microenvironment: sensory neurons as architects of immune exclusion in triple negative breast cancer

Abstract

The landscape of immunotherapy in triple negative breast cancer has evolved rapidly, yet a persistent clinical paradox remains. While immune checkpoint blockade has demonstrated meaningful benefit in selected patients, a substantial proportion fail to respond or develop early resistance [1]. This discrepancy cannot be fully explained by tumor intrinsic genomic features or checkpoint molecule expression alone. Increasingly, attention has shifted toward the tumor microenvironment as a determinant of therapeutic success or failure. In this context, the recent study by Zhang and colleagues provides a compelling conceptual advance by placing sensory neurons at the center of immune exclusion in triple negative breast cancer [2].