Triple negative breast cancer
What is triple negative breast cancer. What treatment can I have?
Triple negative breast cancers are cancers that don’t have receptors for oestrogen, progesterone or Her2. During a biopsy or surgery for breast cancer, your doctor will take a sample of cells so they can be tested for these receptors. The results help your doctor to decide on the most suitable treatment for you. A type of breast cancer known as basal type breast cancer is usually triple negative. Many women with triple negative breast cancer have a BRCA1 gene fault.
Receptors are structures on the surface of cells. When specific substances in your body attach to specific receptors, they trigger a reaction in the cell. In breast cancer, when they are triggered, oestrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and Her2 receptors all tell breast cancer cells to grow. Oestrogen attaches to oestrogen receptors. Progesterone attaches to progesterone receptors. And Her2 attaches to Her2 receptors. Some breast cancers have one or more of these receptors. Triple negative breast cancers don’t have any of them.
Only around 15 out of every 100 breast cancers (15%) are triple negative. Doctors and researchers have only recently found out about triple negative breast cancer. They are continually finding out more about what makes cells grow and how best to treat particular types of breast cancer.
An American study in 2006 found that triple negative breast cancer is more common in African American women than white American women. Researchers are not sure why this is. Overall, breast cancer is actually less common in African American women than in white American women. These differences may be because African American women share a similar lifestyle, or that there is a genetic link. Or it may be because of both. We need more research to find out.
Following surgery to remove the cancer, chemotherapy is the best choice of treatment to try and stop triple negative breast cancer coming back.
Some commonly used breast cancer treatments such as hormone therapy or Herceptin don’t work for triple negative breast cancer. These treatments need to attach to particular receptors. The triple negative breast cancer cells do not have the right receptors.
The main chemotherapy treatment for triple negative breast cancer is usually a combination of chemotherapy drugs. The combination should include a type of chemotherapy drug called an anthracycline (doxorubicin or epirubicin).
There isn’t yet a particular chemotherapy combination that doctors recommend. Because triple negative breast cancer is a recent finding, researchers are still looking into the best chemotherapy combination.
Early research suggests that triple negative breast cancers may be more sensitive to particular types of chemotherapy than other types of breast cancer. Doctors are looking into using chemotherapy drugs that aren’t usually used for early breast cancer, such as platinum drugs and taxanes.
The Triple Negative Trial (TNT) is for women with triple negative breast cancer that has spread to another part of the body. It is comparing the chemotherapy drugs carboplatin and docetaxel. The trial will run over 6 years so it will be some time before we know which works best. You can find out more on our clinical trials database. Type ‘TNT’ into the freetext search box.
You can find out more about chemotherapy for breast cancer in our treating breast cancer section.
Researchers are looking into biological therapy for triple negative breast cancer. In a randomised phase 3 trial, the monoclonal antibodybevacizumab (Avastin) and chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (Taxol) appeared to control advanced breast cancer for a time in some women with triple negative breast cancer. Various types of biological therapy are currently being studied.
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