Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39838118›Full record

Trial reportNature medicine2025

Neoadjuvant nivolumab and chemotherapy in early estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer: a randomized phase 3 trial.

Sherene Loi, Roberto Salgado, Giuseppe Curigliano, Roberto Iván Romero Díaz, Suzette Delaloge, Carlos Ignacio Rojas García, Marleen Kok, Cristina Saura, Nadia Harbeck, Elizabeth A Mittendorf and 16 more

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled TrialClinical Trial, Phase IIIMulticenter Study
In one paragraph

Trial report in Nature medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04109066 (A Randomized, Multicenter, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Phase 3 Study of Nivolumab Versus Placebo in Combination With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy in Patients With High-risk, Estrogen Receptor-Positive), which is not on this map. Cited by 94 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
94citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT04109066 phase3completednot on this map

A Randomized, Multicenter, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Phase 3 Study of Nivolumab Versus Placebo in Combination With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy in Patients With High-risk, Estrogen Receptor-Positive (ER+), Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2-Negative (HER2-) Primary Breast Cancer

TypeinterventionalSponsorBristol-Myers SquibbRan2019 to 2023Enrolled521ConditionsBreast CancerArmsnivolumab, paclitaxel (PTX), nivolumab placebo, anthracycline, cyclophosphamide
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

94 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Guideline
  2. Pooled it
  3. Final outcomes of the SOFT and TEXT phase III trials in premenopausal hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer.Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology · 2026
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  11. Pembrolizumab and Paclitaxel in Patients with HR+/HER2- Breast Cancer with HER2-Enriched or Basal-like Subtypes.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026
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  20. The immunology of human breast cancer.Nature reviews. Immunology · 2026
    Review

34 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

26 authors.

Sherene LoiPeter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. sherene.loi@petermac.org.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6137-9171
Roberto SalgadoPeter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1110-3801
Giuseppe CuriglianoEuropean Institute of Oncology, IRCCS, Milan, Italy.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1781-2518
Roberto Iván Romero DíazConsultorio de Oncólogo Médico, Oaxaca, Mexico.
Suzette DelalogeGustave Roussy Cancer Campus, Villejuif, France.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2106-9165
Carlos Ignacio Rojas GarcíaBradford Hill Investigación Clinica, Región Metropolitana, Santiago, Chile.
Marleen KokNetherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9043-9815
Cristina SauraVall d'Hebron University Hospital, Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO), Barcelona, Spain.
Nadia HarbeckBreast Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and CCC Munich, Ludwig Maximilians University Hospital, Munich, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9744-7372
Elizabeth A MittendorfDana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Denise A YardleySarah Cannon Research Institute, Nashville, TN, USA.
Alberto Suárez ZaizarCENEIT Oncológicos, Mexico City, Mexico.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8506-2224
Facundo Rufino CaminosHospital Italiano De Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina.
Andrei UngureanuRadiotherapy Center CLUJ S.R.L., Florești, Romania.
Joaquin G Reinoso-ToledoConsultorio del Dr. Joaquin Gabriel Reinoso Toledo, Monterrey, Mexico.
Valentina GuarneriIstituto Oncologico Veneto IRCCS, Padua, Italy.
Daniel EgleDepartment of Gynecology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0283-8176
Felipe AdesBristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Misena PaciusBristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Aparna ChhibberBristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Rajalakshmi ChandraBristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Raheel NathaniBristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Thomas SpiresBristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Jenny Qun WuBristol Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ, USA.
Lajos PusztaiSmilow Cancer Hospital at Yale, New Haven, CT, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9632-6686
Heather McArthurUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0201-3871

Funding

Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award (U Component)UL1TR001863 · NCATS · YALE UNIVERSITY · PI John H. Krystal, LUCILA OHNO-MACHADO · 2016 to 2026
$102.9M
NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR001863
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Patients with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) primary breast cancer (BC) have low pathological complete response (pCR) rates with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. A subset of ER+/HER2- BC contains dense lymphocytic infiltration. We hypothesized that addition of an anti-programmed death 1 agent may increase pCR rates in this BC subtype. We conducted a randomized, multicenter, double-blind phase 3 trial to investigate the benefit of adding nivolumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with newly diagnosed, high-risk, grade 3 or 2 (ER 1 to ≤10%) ER+/HER2- primary BC. In total, 510 patients were randomized to receive anthracycline and taxane-based chemotherapy with either intravenous nivolumab or placebo. The primary endpoint of pCR was significantly higher in the nivolumab arm compared with placebo (24.5% versus 13.8%; P = 0.0021), with greater benefit observed in patients with programmed death ligand 1-positive tumors (VENTANA SP142 ≥1%: 44.3% versus 20.2% respectively). There were no new safety signals identified. Of the five deaths that occurred in the nivolumab arm, two were related to study drug toxicity; no deaths occurred in the placebo arm. Adding nivolumab to neoadjuvant chemotherapy significantly increased pCR rates in high-risk, early-stage ER+/HER2- BC, particularly among patients with higher stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte levels or programmed death ligand 1 expression, suggesting a new treatment paradigm that emphasizes the role of immunotherapy and T cell immunosurveillance in luminal disease. Clinical trials.gov identifier: NCT04109066.

Indexed as

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy ProtocolsBreast NeoplasmsNeoadjuvant TherapyNivolumabReceptors, EstrogenAdultAgedB7-H1 AntigenDouble-Blind MethodErb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine KinasesFemaleHumansMiddle AgedB7-H1 AntigenERBB2 protein, humanErb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine KinasesNivolumabReceptors, Estrogen

Identifiers

PMID39838118
PMCPMC11835735

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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.