{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T06:04:47Z","timestamp":1780553087455,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780531200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Neuroendocrine breast cancer (NEBC) is an exceedingly rare malignant tumor, with primary triple-negative NEBC representing an even rarer and more aggressive subtype lacking standardized treatment guidelines. Although pembrolizumab combined with chemotherapy has become the standard of care for high-risk early-stage triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) following the KEYNOTE-522 trial and recent expert consensus recommendations, its role in the rare histologic subtype of primary NEBC remains largely unexplored. We report a 71-year-old postmenopausal woman who presented with a left breast mass discovered over three years earlier. Comprehensive preoperative staging excluded extra-mammary neuroendocrine primaries. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry confirmed primary NEBC (ER\u2212, PR\u2212, HER2\u2212, CgA+, Syn+, CD56+, Ki-67 index 30%), PD-L1 positivity (CPS \u226510) and germline BRCA1\/2 mutation. The patient underwent curative mastectomy with sentinel lymph node biopsy (pT2N0M0, stage IIA). Adjuvant therapy comprised paclitaxel (175 mg\/m\u00b2) plus cisplatin (75 mg\/m\u00b2) every 3 weeks for six cycles, combined with pembrolizumab (200 mg every 3 weeks). The regimen was well tolerated with only grade 1\u20132 toxicities. At 12-month follow-up, the patient remains disease-free with no evidence of recurrence. To our knowledge, this is one of the first reported cases of pembrolizumab combined with platinum-based chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting for primary triple-negative NEBC. This case provides hypothesis-generating evidence for chemo-immunotherapy in this rare, high-grade histologic subtype.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2026.1848635","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,4]],"date-time":"2026-06-04T05:40:56Z","timestamp":1780551656000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Adjuvant chemotherapy combined with pembrolizumab immunotherapy for primary triple-negative neuroendocrine carcinoma of the breast: a case report and literature review"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Xin","family":"Shen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery, Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University","place":["Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiangnan","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Translational Cancer 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