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Review
. 2019 Oct;8(Suppl 5):S503-S509.
doi: 10.21037/tcr.2019.06.50.

Morphological and pathological features of basal-like breast cancer

Gerardo Botti  1 , Monica Cantile  2 , Francesca Collina  2 , Margherita Cerrone  2 , Sabrina Sarno  2 , Annamaria Anniciello  2 , Maurizio Di Bonito  2
Affiliations
Review

Morphological and pathological features of basal-like breast cancer

Gerardo Botti et al. Transl Cancer Res. 2019 Oct.

Abstract

Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is characterized by high grade, high mitotic indices, presence of central necrotic or fibrotic zones, and lymphocytic infiltrate. Patients presenting with BLBC have a poor prognosis and a short-term disease-free and overall survival. BLBCs may include different histological types of breast cancers but the most common histological type is represented by invasive ductal carcinomas of no special type (IDC-NST). Typical immunohistochemical markers for these tumors are basal-type cytokeratin markers such as CK5/6, CK14, CK17, but several BLBCs also express luminal-type CKs, such as CK8/18, CK19. Different molecular alterations, including BRCA1 dysfunction, p53 mutations, up-regulation of EGFR, inactivation of PTEN and the aberrant expression of many non-coding RNAs molecules are detected in BLBC cells suggesting the possibility of defining new targeted therapeutic strategies for this tumor type.

Keywords: Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC); histological features; molecular markers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tcr.2019.06.50). The focused issue “Rare Tumors of the Breast” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Main histological types of BLBC (HE, ×40). (A) IDC-NST with a predominant trabecular architecture (in the central part of the image a mitosis is present); (B) lobular carcinoma with chain aspect of neoplastic cells; (C) medullary carcinoma with pleomorphic cells and intratumoral lymphocytic infiltrate; (D) mucinous carcinoma with groups of ductal cells immersed in abundant mucus. BLBC, basal-like breast cancer; IDC-NST, invasive ductal carcinomas of no special type.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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