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
Review
. 2022 Aug 16;14(8):e28056.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.28056. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Evaluation of CD44+/CD24- and Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Enzyme Markers in Cancer Stem Cells as Prognostic Indicators for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Lisbeth Escudero Mendez  1 , Mirra Srinivasan  2 , Ranim K Hamouda  2 , Baba Ambedkar  2 , Hadia Arzoun  2 , Isra Sahib  2 , Jack Fondeur  2 , Lubna Mohammed  2
Affiliations
Review

Evaluation of CD44+/CD24- and Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Enzyme Markers in Cancer Stem Cells as Prognostic Indicators for Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Lisbeth Escudero Mendez et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has been extensively studied not just for its aggressive behavior but also to understand its complex molecular nature. This type of heterogeneous tumor shows no expression of estrogen receptor (ER) or progesterone receptor (PR) and does not express the HER2 gene, and often these tumors are high grade with distinct histological groups. The basal-like subtype is most commonly related to the TNBC type of neoplasms; it can be further classified according to Lehmann and Burstein expert's criteria. TNBC is related to breast stem cell markers such as CD44+/CD24- and high levels of enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), which have been shown to possess stem cell features that are involved in differentiation, vascular invasion, tumorigenesis, and metastatic potential. CD44+/CD24- and high levels of ALDH have significance as markers as well as indicators of poor prognosis in TNBC. The databases used in this review are PMC, PubMed, and Google Scholar.

Keywords: cancer stem cells; cd24-; cd44+; ladh or ladh1; prognosis; triple-negative breast cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. TNBC classification according to Burstein et al. and Lehmann et al.
Lehmann et al. in 2011 divided TNBC into the following six molecular subgroups displaying unique genetic expression and ontologies: immunomodulatory (IM), mesenchymal (NI), mesenchymal stem-like (MSL), luminal androgen receptor (LAR), and two basal-like subtypes (BL1 and BL2). Burstein et al. in 2105 used DNA profiling to identify TNBC subgroups: cluster 1: LAR, cluster 2: mesenchymal (MES), cluster 3: basal-like immunosuppressed (BLIS), and cluster 4: basal-like immune-activated (BLIA). The two tables express similar information such as cluster 1 has Lehmann’s LAR neoplasms, cluster 2 has most of Lehmann’s mesenchymal stem-like and clusters 3 and 4 have Lehmann’s basal-like 1 and basal-like 2 neoplasms, and mesenchymal neoplasms are assigned to clusters 2 and 4 since they share common signaling pathways [17,18] The figure was created in Mind the Graph
Figure 2
Figure 2. Breast cancer stem cells and tumorigenesis
Figure Created in Mind the Graph
Figure 3
Figure 3. Heterogeneity in breast cancer: intratumoral and intertumoral heterogeneity theory and prognosis of TNBC
Figure created in Mind the Graph
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization: breast cancer. [ Mar; 2022 ];Breast cancer. World Health Organization.26 Mar. . https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer 2021
    1. Triple-negative breast carcinoma: current and emerging concepts. Schmadeka R, Harmon BE, Singh M. Am J Clin Pathol. 2014;141:462–477. - PubMed
    1. Triple-negative breast cancer: future prospects in diagnosis and management. Elsamany S, Abdullah S. Med Oncol. 2014;31:834. - PubMed
    1. Patients with triple negative breast cancer: is there an optimal adjuvant treatment? Burstein HJ. Breast. 2013;22:0–8. - PubMed
    1. Triple-negative breast cancer. Foulkes WD, Smith IE, Reis-Filho JS. N Engl J Med. 2010;363:1938–1948. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources