Alarming Burden of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer in India

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women worldwide. Among the different breast cancer subtypes, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is more prevalent among younger age women, is the most aggressive form. Numerous clinicopathologic studies performed throughout the world strongly support the utterly poor prognoses and high recurrence rate of TNBC. The present report details a thorough data survey from Google and PubMed on the burden of TNBC worldwide and other associated factors, with special emphasis on its ever increasing incidence among Indian women. Our analysis revealed that the proportion of TNBC ranges from 6.7% to 27.9% in different countries, with the highest reported percentage in India among all, followed by Indonesia, Algeria, and Pakistan. Most of the other countries (Netherlands, Italy, London, Germany) had a TNBC incidence less than the mean level (ie, 15%). The high incidence of TNBC in the Indian population is associated with vivid risk factors, which primarily include lifestyle, deprivation status, obesity, family history, high mitotic indexes, and BRCA1 mutations. The treatment of TNBC is greatly hampered due to the lack of targeted therapies. Hence, it requires earnest attention towards extensive research for the prevention and development of treatment modalities with high efficacy.

Keywords: Breast cancer; ER(+); HER(+); India; PR(+); TNBC.