Triple negative breast cancer

Abstract

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents 10–20% of all breast cancer types and is characterized by the lack of ex-pression of oestrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and HER2 receptor. If the tumour is negative also for androgen receptors, it is called quadruple negative breast cancer. TNBC differs in many ways from other types of breast cancer. The incidence is higher in Afro-Americans and younger women. Histologically, tumours are mainly high-grade invasive ductal carcinomas. Systemic spread is more common than local recurrence, and there are more visceral metastases. Compared to other types of breast cancer, time to disease recurrence is shorter and overall survival is worse. The only effective standard systemic treatment is chemotherapy. PARP inhibitors and immunotherapy show promising results in some subtypes of TNBC. Several clinical trials are still ongoing.