Patterns of recurrence in the basal and non-basal subtypes of triple-negative breast cancers

• Published in: Breast cancer research and treatment Vol. 118; no. 1; pp. 131 - 137
• Main Authors: Nofech-Mozes, Sharon, Trudeau, Maureen, Kahn, Harriet K, Dent, Rebecca, Rawlinson, Ellen, Sun, Ping, Narod, Steven A, Hanna, Wedad M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Boston : Springer US 01.11.2009; Springer US; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biological and medical sciences; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - chemistry; Breast Neoplasms - mortality; Breast Neoplasms - pathology; Cancer research; Cancer therapies; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - chemistry; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - mortality; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - pathology; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast - secondary; Carcinoma, Lobular - chemistry; Carcinoma, Lobular - mortality; Carcinoma, Lobular - pathology; Carcinoma, Lobular - secondary; Cell Division; Disease-Free Survival; Epidemiology; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Genotype & phenotype; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Kaplan-Meier Estimate; Keratin-5 - analysis; Keratin-6 - analysis; Ki-67 Antigen - analysis; Mammary gland diseases; Medical prognosis; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metastasis; Middle Aged; Neoplasm Metastasis; Neoplasm Proteins - analysis; Oncology; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor - analysis; Receptor, ErbB-2 - analysis; Receptors, Estrogen - analysis; Receptors, Progesterone - analysis; Tumors; Young Adult; Triple-negative; Normal-like; Breast cancer; Prognosis; Basal-like; Metastases; Recurrence; Relapse; Breast disease; Malignant tumor; Metastasis; Mammary gland diseases; Subtype; Cancer
• ISSN: 0167-6806; 1573-7217
• DOI: 10.1007/s10549-008-0295-8

Traditional prognostic markers for breast cancer include estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (ER) and HER2/neu. Negative staining for these three markers defines the ‘triple-negative' phenotype. By adding markers for cytokeratin 5/6 and EGFR, triple-negative breast cancers can be divided into ‘basal-like' and ‘normal-like' subgroups. We conducted immuno-staining on a panel of 958 patients with breast cancer, using all five markers and we followed the patients for distal recurrence and death. We compared rates of distal recurrence in the basal-like and normal-like subgroups with that of women with ER-positive breast cancer. Only 16 of 958 women had normal-like breast cancers. These cancers resembled basal-like cancers in that they had a high proliferative index, but the women with normal-like breast cancers resembled ER-positive women in terms of distant recurrence. The addition of CK5/6 and EGFR to the standard panel (ER/PR/HER2/neu) defines a small subgroup of women with normal-like breast cancer. The prognosis of these women may be superior to that of basal-like breast cancers but firm conclusions cannot be made.