Clinical outcome of triple-negative (TN) breast cancer (BC)

Abstract

11526 Background: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease with different biologic characteristics and clinical behaviors. Triple- negative tumors, most of which fall into the basal subgroup of breast cancers based on microarray profiling have been reported to have an aggressive clinical course. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of early breast cancer patients (pts) with known receptor and Her- 2 satus by immunohistochemistry, who have been treated in our institution between 1999–2006. We recorded the clinical/pathologic characteristics of these tumors, analyzed survival outcome. Results: We identified 60 pts with triple negative tumors among 705 early BC cases. 4% pts were <35 years of age, 58% were postmenopausal, 57% had left breast involved, 36% had breast-conserving surgery. The histology was invasive ductal carcinoma in 72% cases, invasive lobular in 8% and medullary in 8% cases. Thirty percent of pts had node- positive disease, 40%/53% had grade 2/3 tms respectively. Twenty percent of the pts had multifocal disease, 40% had lymphovascular invasion. Eighty percent of pts had anthracycline-based, 12% had anthracycline/taxane- based adjuvant chemotherapy. 51% had adjuvant radiotherapy. So far 5 pts had relapse and one patient died because of BC. Eight-year overall survival is 88% and 8-year disease-free survival (DFS) is 75%. Conclusions: Not all of these TN BC pts had poor prognostic features as mentioned in literature. Both the overall survival and DFS are almost similar to those with receptor negative subset in our institution. Effective treatment strategies can only be implemented with increased understanding of the biology of this distinct breast cancer subtype. No significant financial relationships to disclose.