Triple Negative Breast Cancer
For my research in Honors 1110, I will be investigating the subtype of breast cancer known as Triple Negative.
https://healthmatch.io/breast-cancer/what-is-triple-negative-breast-cancer#overview
What makes triple-negative breast cancer different than other types of breast cancer that has a lack of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2.
It is a disease that is heterogeneous and very often metastasizes.
Frequencies of this type of cancer occur among the population?
Breast cancer itself accounts for about 23% of all cancers.
Triple-negative breast cancer makes up about 10-20% of all invasive breast cancer.
How is this type of cancer typically identified/detected?
There are two ways Triple Negative Breast Cancer can be detected.
One is through imaging.
Mammograms and ultrasounds are two forms of imaging.
MRIs are also a form of imaging that can be done, but are only typically done when the patient is at high risk (due to family history and/or BRCA gene).
The second is through immunohistochemistry.
IHC detects biomarkers in the blood that are technically seen with Triple Negative Breast Cancer.
These biomarkers include progesterone receptors, estrogen receptors, and human epidermal growth factor two markers.
Any known factors that give a person a high risk of getting that specific type of triple-negative breast Cancer?
Research done in the United States points to women of color and women ages 50-64 having a higher risk of this cancer.
What stagings are used to describe this cancer?
Triple Negative breast cancer can be sorted into the normal stages of cancers (stage 0, stage 1, stage 2, etc.).
The better grouping for this cancer, though, is localized, regional, and distant stages.
What are the current available treatments for this cancer?
Triple-negative breast cancer has the fewest treatment options out of any invasive breast cancer type.
The options are limited and depend on where the cancer has spread.
Hormone therapy and anti-HER2 drugs are not an option for treatment.
Surgical removal if the cancer has not spread to distant sites chemotherapy, Radiation therapy is the main treatment option for patients.
What is the average life expectancy for the patient?
Triple-negative breast cancer does not have the best life expectancy and has one of the worst rates of survival out of all breast cancer types.
The first 5-year survival rate when localized is 92%.
When regional, it’s 65% and when distant, the survival is 11%.
Sources Kumur Pankaj, Aggarwal Rupali. In Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 2016; vol 293, pp.247-269 An overview of triple-negative breast cancer | Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics Scott, Lia C., et al. In Update on Triple Negative Breast Cancer Disparities for the United States – A Population Based Study from the United States Cancer Statistics Database, 2010-2014, no.19; 2019; vol. 125, pp. 3412, https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.32207. Dass, Sylvia A., et al. “Triple Negative Breast Cancer: A Review of Present and Future Diagnostic Modalities.” Medicina, no.1; 2021; vol. 57, pp. 62, https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina57010062. Emedicinehealth. Cancer Center. Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Survival Rate, Prognosis, Treatment(accessed September 10,2025) American Cancer Society. American Cancer Society. Triple-negative Breast Cancer | Details, Diagnosis, and Signs | American Cancer Society