Triple Negative Breast Cancer: A Review of Present and Future Diagnostic Modalities

• Published in: Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) Vol. 57; no. 1; p. 62
• Main Authors: Dass, Sylvia Annabel, Tan, Kim Liu, Selva Rajan, Rehasri, Mokhtar, Noor Fatmawati, Mohd Adzmi, Elis Rosliza, Wan Abdul Rahman, Wan Faiziah, Tengku Din, Tengku Ahmad Damitri Al-Astani, Balakrishnan, Venugopal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI 12.01.2021; MDPI AG
• Subjects: breast cancer; future diagnosis; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Receptors, Estrogen; Review; triple negative breast cancer; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; future diagnosis; breast cancer; triple negative breast cancer
• ISSN: 1648-9144; 1010-660X; 1648-9144
• DOI: 10.3390/medicina57010062

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive breast type of cancer with no expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2). It is a highly metastasized, heterogeneous disease that accounts for 10-15% of total breast cancer cases with a poor prognosis and high relapse rate within five years after treatment compared to non-TNBC cases. The diagnostic and subtyping of TNBC tumors are essential to determine the treatment alternatives and establish personalized, targeted medications for every TNBC individual. Currently, TNBC is diagnosed via a two-step procedure of imaging and immunohistochemistry (IHC), which are operator-dependent and potentially time-consuming. Therefore, there is a crucial need for the development of rapid and advanced technologies to enhance the diagnostic efficiency of TNBC. This review discusses the overview of breast cancer with emphasis on TNBC subtypes and the current diagnostic approaches of TNBC along with its challenges. Most importantly, we have presented several promising strategies that can be utilized as future TNBC diagnostic modalities and simultaneously enhance the efficacy of TNBC diagnostic.