Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Aug 14:7:239-43.
doi: 10.2147/BCTT.S85442. eCollection 2015.

Triple negative breast cancer: an Indian perspective

Murtaza Akhtar  1 , Subhrajit Dasgupta  1 , Murtuza Rangwala  1
Affiliations

Triple negative breast cancer: an Indian perspective

Murtaza Akhtar et al. Breast Cancer (Dove Med Press). .

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common female cancer in the world. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a recently identified biological variant with aggressive tumor behavior and poor prognosis. Data of hormonal status from the Indian population is scarce due to financial constraints in performing immunohistochemistry evaluation. The present study aims to prospectively analyze receptor status of all breast cancer patients and identify TNBC and compare their clinical profile and short term survival with other non-TNBC group.

Materials and methods: All cytologically and histopathologically confirmed cases of carcinoma breast were prospectively enrolled. In a longitudinal study at tertiary care hospital in central India based on the hormonal status, they were further divided into TNBC and other groups. Comparison of risk factors, clinical profile and short-term survival was carried out.

Results: A total 85 patients were enrolled and of them 37 (43.7%) were TNBC. On comparing risk factors ie, age, age at menarche, total reproductive age, age at first child birth, and menopausal status - no statistical significance was observed between the TNBC and non-TNBC groups. But on comparison of clinical profile TNBC tumors were significantly large with majority of patients presenting as locally advanced breast cancer (83%). No statistical difference was observed in axillary lymph node status between two groups. TNBC tumors were histologically more aggressive (grade 3) compared to other groups. No statistically significant difference was observed in short term overall survival but all three deaths were observed in the TNBC group only and two local recurrences after surgery were observed in the TNBC group.

Conclusion: TNBC forms a large proportion of carcinoma breast patients in a central Indian scenario and needs more research to identify appropriate treatment planning considering aggressive histology and advanced presentation.

Keywords: ER; HER2neu; PR; TNBC; breast cancer; hormone receptor; triple negative breast cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. World Health Organization [homepage on the Internet] The global burden of disease: 2004 update. WHO; [Accessed June 8, 2015]. Available from: http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/2004_report_update/en/
    1. Consolidated Report of Hospital Based Cancer Registries 2001–2003. National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research National Cancer Registry Programme (Indian Council of Medical Research); 2007. [Accessed June 8, 2015]. Available from: http://www.ncrpindia.org/Reports/HBCR_2001_03.aspx.
    1. Consolidated Report of Population Based Cancer Registries 2001–2004. National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research National Cancer Registry Programme (Indian Council of Medical Research); 2006. [Accessed June 8, 2015]. Available from: http://www.ncrpindia.org/Reports/PBCR_2001_2004.aspx.
    1. Perou CM, Sorlie T, Eison MB, et al. Molecular Portraits of human breast tumours. Nature. 2000;406(6797):747–752. - PubMed
    1. Wolff A, Hammond ME, Schwartz J, et al. American Society of Clinical Oncology/College of American Pathologists guideline recommendations for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 testing in breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2007;25(1):118–145. - PubMed