Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC): A New Challenge for Oncologists

<p>Cancer is one among the scariest and lethal diseases in the world, frightening mankind largely for the reason that it is hard to live through it. Since, cancer results from the unrestricted proliferation of specific modified normal human cells, it’s neither easy to track it nor to curb it. One of the contemporary solutions to alleviate malignancy comprise drug therapy (chemotherapy) despite the very well-known fact that majority of drugs used for cancer treatment are cytotoxic that work by interfering in some ways with the operation of the cell's DNA.</p> <p>Breast cancers which do not express oestrogen, progesterone, or HER-2 neu receptors are known as triple negative breast carcinomas (TNBC). In western literature, they have been reported as extremely aggressive with a poor prognosis. However there is paucity of information on breast cancer in India. A number of recent studies have shown that TNBC is not a homogeneous entity at the phenotypic and molecular levels. Clinically, this heterogeneity manifests itself in unpredictable outcomes for patients treated with the same or similar strategies.</p> <p>Despite poor prognosis, subgroups of TNBC patients have excellent outcomes. There are more chances of recurrence in the first few years after surgery as compared to patients with ER-positive tumors. Thus, the view of TNBC as a homogeneous subtype with uniformly poor prognosis is an over-simplified perception.