Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

What is triple-negative breast cancer?

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer. About 15% of newly diagnosed breast cancer cases are triple-negative, making it one of the more common forms of the disease.

What does triple-negative mean?

“Triple-negative” refers to the lack of three specific molecules, called receptors, produced by the breast cancer cells.

A cell’s receptors interact or bind with specific proteins and hormones in the body. This is called recognition. Recognition sets many biological processes in motion.

Most breast cancers have at least one of three receptors that fuel the growth and spread of the disease through recognition. These are the HER2 protein and receptors for the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Doctors treat breast cancers with these receptors with drugs that interrupt recognition. TNBC does not have any of the three receptors. As a result, drugs targeting these receptors do not work on TNBC. Different drugs need to be used.

Triple-negative breast cancer also grows quickly and has a high rate of recurrence, making it one of the most aggressive types of breast cancer.

Triple-negative breast cancer survival rate

Each individual with triple-negative breast cancer is unique and survival rates depend on several factors, including how far the cancer has spread at the time it is found and how the tumor responds to treatment. Overall, the five-year survival rate for patients with TNBC is about 77%. This number does not include women diagnosed in the last few years, who may have received new treatments. The survival rate for current patients may be higher.

Diagnosis, symptoms and risk factors

Triple-negative breast cancer may display similar symptoms as other types of breast cancer. Like other breast cancers, TNBC is diagnosed with imaging exams and a biopsy of the cancer tissue.

Once doctors confirm cancer, they test the biopsy tissue for molecular receptors. If the cancer has no receptors for estrogen and progesterone and does not have high levels of HER2, it is considered triple-negative.

TNBC has many of the same risk factors as other types of breast cancer. One difference is age. Compared to other types of breast cancer, TNBC is more common in women under age 50. Black women are also at an increased risk for the disease.

Triple-negative breast cancer treatment

When triple-negative breast cancer is caught before it has spread to distant parts of the body, it is usually treated with chemotherapy, sometimes in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors, followed by surgery. Patients may receive radiation therapy after surgery.

Patients may also receive additional chemotherapy or immunotherapy after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells and reduce the risk of recurrence.

If the disease has spread to distant parts of the body, it can be treated with a variety of cancer drugs. These include immune checkpoint inhibitors, chemotherapy and targeted therapy. In some cases, these patients will receive radiation therapy.

Why Choose MD Anderson for your triple-negative breast cancer treatment?

Choosing the right hospital may be the most important decision you make as a triple-negative breast cancer patient. At MD Anderson, you’ll get treatment from one of the nation’s top-ranked cancer centers.

The surgeons, radiation oncologists and medical oncologists with the Nellie B. Connally Breast Center focus exclusively on curing breast cancer, extending the life of breast cancer patients and maximizing their quality of life.

Among them are many physicians who specialize in treating TNBC. Each doctor brings their skills to our multidisciplinary teams, where they work together to develop treatment plans that address the unique nature of each TNBC case and patient.

If a patient receives both chemotherapy and immunotherapy before surgery, the tumor’s response must be monitored closely. At MD Anderson, our dedicated breast imaging team tracks these tumors with state-of-the-art imaging that provides accurate pictures of the tumor throughout treatment.

As a top-ranked cancer center, we also have one of country’s the largest clinical trials program for triple-negative breast cancer. This includes studies of new treatments and treatment combinations, including clinical trials that are not available anywhere else.