Study: New Genes Linked With Triple Negative Breast Cancer
A research study identified new genes that may be associated with a higher risk for triple negative breast cancer.
This image is an example of the kind of gel pictures researchers use to understand the order, or sequence, of genes or to look for mutations in genes.
This image is an example of the kind of gel pictures researchers use to understand the order, or sequence, of genes or to look for mutations in genes.
Out of 100 people with breast cancer about 15 will have triple-negative breast cancer . Its one of the most challenging types of breast cancer to treat due to several things:
- TNBC tends to be more aggressive than other common types of breast cancer.
- Women usually dont learn they have it until the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body .
- Treatment options remain limited.Hormone therapies and targeted therapies that help treat people with some types of breast cancer, typically dont work for a woman with TNBC. Doctors use chemotherapy to treat these patients, but it isnt very effective and may have side effects.
If doctors had a way to identify women at risk for TNBC, they might be able to find cancer earlier and before it spreads when it might be easier to treat. And, if doctors had a way to personalize treatment for women with TNBC, they might be able to improve a womans outlook . One approach researchers are using to identify women at risk for TNBC and possible treatment options for TNBC is by studying inherited changes in cancer genes.
Mechanisms Of Breast Cancer Metastasis
No one really knows what factors will make a certain patient more or less susceptible to breast cancer metastasis.
There is growing awareness that part of that susceptibility is due to host factors. The host factors are the characteristics of the non-malignant cells and the general biological environment surrounding the malignant breast tumor.
Sometimes the host factors are referred to as the pre-metastatic niche and it is thought that bone-marrow-derived progenitor cells may directly influence the dissemination of malignant cells to distant areas.
Non-neoplastichost cells within the tumor may also play a key role in the regulation of breast cancer metastasis.
Nac Regimens And Surgical Methods
Three different NAC regimens were used: ED , FEC and EC . For the pts who underwent EC and most of the pts who underwent FEC, a further four cycles of D were then administered. Each chemotherapy regimen was administered every three weeks for four cycles however, this interval was prolonged by at least one week if the pt did not recover from the adverse effects. Subsequent to the completion of the four cycles of NAC, we evaluated the clinical responses and performed surgery within 23 weeks. The surgical methods included Pateys procedure in three pts, mastectomy in 16 pts and lumpectomy in three pts. All pts underwent level I+II ALN dissection. In addition, the three pts who received Pateys procedure underwent level III lymph node dissection.
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Study: New Genes Linked With Triple
A research study identified new genes that may be associated with a higher risk for triple-negative breast cancer.
This image is an example of the kind of gel pictures researchers use to understand the order, or sequence, of genes or to look for mutations in genes.
This image is an example of the kind of gel pictures researchers use to understand the order, or sequence, of genes or to look for mutations in genes.
Out of 100 people with breast cancer about 15 will have triple-negative breast cancer . Its one of the most challenging types of breast cancer to treat due to several things:
- TNBC tends to be more aggressive than other common types of breast cancer.
- Women usually dont learn they have it until the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body .
- Treatment options remain limited. Hormone therapies and targeted therapies that help treat people with some types of breast cancer, typically dont work for a woman with TNBC. Doctors use chemotherapy to treat these patients, but it isnt very effective and may have side effects.
If doctors had a way to identify women at risk for TNBC, they might be able to find cancer earlier and before it spreads when it might be easier to treat. And, if doctors had a way to personalize treatment for women with TNBC, they might be able to improve a womans outlook . One approach researchers are using to identify women at risk for TNBC and possible treatment options for TNBC is by studying inherited changes in cancer genes.
Treatment Of Breast Cancer Stages I
The stage of your breast cancer is an important factor in making decisions about your treatment.
Most women with breast cancer in stages I, II, or III are treated with surgery, often followed by radiation therapy. Many women also get some kind of systemic drug therapy . In general, the more the breast cancer has spread, the more treatment you will likely need. But your treatment options are affected by your personal preferences and other information about your breast cancer, such as:
- If the cancer cells have hormone receptors. That is, if the cancer is estrogen receptor -positive or progesterone receptor -positive.
- If the cancer cells have large amounts of the HER2 protein
- How fast the cancer is growing
- Your overall health
- If you have gone through menopause or not
Talk with your doctor about how these factors can affect your treatment options.
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What Are Symptoms Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer
TNBC symptoms are the same as other common breast cancers. And many breast cancer symptoms are similar to other less serious conditions. That means having certain symptom doesnt mean you have breast cancer. Possible breast cancer symptoms include:
- A new lump or mass.
- Swelling in all or part of a breast.
- Dimpled skin.
- Nipple retraction, when your nipple turns inward.
- Nipple or breast skin thats dry, flaking, thickened or red.
- Nipple discharge that is not breast milk.
- Swollen lymph nodes. This symptom happens when breast cancer spreads to the lymph nodes under your arm or near your collarbone.
Survival Rates For Triple
Triple-negative breast cancer is considered an aggressive cancer because it grows quickly, is more likely to have spread at the time its found, and is more likely to come back after treatment than other types of breast cancer. The outlook is generally not as good as it is for other types of breast cancer.
Survival rates can give you an idea of what percentage of people with the same type and stage of cancer are still alive a certain amount of time after they were diagnosed. They cant tell you how long you will live, but they may help give you a better understanding of how likely it is that your treatment will be successful.
Keep in mind that survival rates are estimates and are often based on previous outcomes of large numbers of people who had a specific cancer, but they cant predict what will happen in any particular persons case. These statistics can be confusing and may lead you to have more questions. Talk with your doctor about how these numbers may apply to you, as he or she is familiar with your situation.
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How Does Staging Relate To Types Of Breast Cancer
In addition to cancer stage, doctors will determine the tumor grade and subtype.
Tumors are graded on a scale of 1 to 3, based on how abnormal the cells appear compared to normal cells. The higher the grade, the more aggressive the cancer, meaning that it tends to be growing quickly.
The subtype is important because treatment and outlook will vary depending on which subtype of breast cancer that you have. Subtypes include:
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What Treatments Are Used For Metastatic Cancer
Metastatic cancer may be treated with chemotherapy, biological therapy, targeted therapy, hormonal therapy, radiation therapy, surgery, or a combination of these treatments.
The choice of treatment generally depends on the type of primary cancer the size, location, and the number of metastatic tumors. Also, the patients age and general health and the types of treatment the patient has had in the past.
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Symptoms Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer
The symptoms of triple negative breast cancer are similar to other breast cancer types.
Symptoms can include:
- a new lump or thickening in your breast or armpit
- a change in size, shape or feel of your breast
- skin changes in the breast such as puckering, dimpling, a rash or redness of the skin
- fluid leaking from the nipple in a woman who isnt pregnant or breast feeding
- changes in the position of nipple
Make an appointment to see your GP if you notice anything different or unusual about the look and feel of your breasts.
What Is The Life Expectancy For Stage 3 Breast Cancer
The life expectancy for people with breast cancer is improving, according to the American Cancer Society. It points out that current survival rates are based on people who were diagnosed and treated at least 5 years ago and treatments have advanced over that time.
Your life expectancy with stage 3 breast cancer depends on several factors, such as:
- your age
- the size of the tumors
You should talk with your doctor about how these factors may apply to you.
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Treating Aggressive Breast Cancers
Women diagnosed with breast cancer undergo testing to determine the form of the disease and whats driving its growth. This information is key to developing an individualized treatment strategy. Choice of treatment also depends on how extensive the cancer is within the breast, whether it has metastasized, and whether the patient is menopausal.
When either HER2-positive or triple-negative breast cancer is diagnosed early, surgery is often performed to remove the tumor and its surrounding tissue or the entire breast . Nearby lymph nodes sometimes are removed as well.
Neoadjuvant therapy, a treatment given as a first step before the primary treatment, is standard for both HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancers if the tumor can be surgically removed. Chemotherapy is often used as a neoadjuvant therapy before surgery to shrink the tumor. The goal is to reduce the area that needs to be removed so the surgery can be less extensive, possibly avoiding a mastectomy. For HER2-positive cancer, chemotherapy may be combined with targeted therapy, medication that acts on the specific cause of the cancer.
After neoadjuvant therapy and surgery, the treatment strategies for HER2 and triple-negative breast cancers differ.
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Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor/receptor
TNBCs are often highly vascular . Neoangiogenesis is crucial to tumor progression and is the result of several mechanistic processes including the vascular endothelial growth factor pathway. Compared with nonâtriple-negative cancers, TNBCs have significantly higher levels of VEGF, and these levels correlate with poor outcome regardless of tumor stage. Many factors are involved in the production of VEGF. Hypoxia-induced production of VEGF is mediated by the binding of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 . Numerous growth factors and cytokines also stimulate VEGF production including epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor, insulin-like growth factor, interleukin 1α, and interleukin 6. During breast carcinogenesis, HIF1 increases proportionally in the progression from ductal hyperplastic lesions to high-grade invasive ductal carcinoma.
One difficulty encountered in trials of FGFR, EGFR, and VEGF receptor inhibitors is the lack of biomarkers that indicate whether a tumor is susceptible to a particular tyrosine kinase inhibitor. A tumor that is known to express a particular tyrosine kinase receptor may not necessarily respond to an inhibitor that is targeted for that receptor. In addition, constitutive activation of downstream pathways may render tyrosine kinase inhibitors irrelevant.
Do You Need Chemo For Grade 3 Breast Cancer
I too am in a similar situation and waiting to hear what my treatment will be, due 2nd OP next week, generic test underway to help decide if chemo is necessary as previous tests on tumour said I was borderline. 11mm and grade 3 with clear lymph nodes and margins. Im 49.
Grading breast cancer cells Three cancer cell features are studied and each is assigned a score. The scores are then added to get a number between 3 and 9 that is used to get a grade of 1, 2, or 3, which is noted on your pathology report.
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What Is The Treatment For Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Healthcare providers and researchers are making significant progress on TNBC treatments. Recent clinical trials are testing new combinations of drugs and new approaches to existing treatments. Some existing treatments are:
- Chemotherapy: Providers might combine chemotherapy and surgery, with chemotherapy being used to shrink your tumor before surgery or after surgery to kill cancer cells throughout your body.
- Surgery: This could be a lumpectomy to remove an individual lump, or a mastectomy to remove an entire breast. Providers then perform a sentinel node biopsy or axillary node surgery to look for signs your breast cancer has spread to your lymph nodes.
- Radiation therapy: Post-surgery radiation therapy helps reduce the chances your cancer will return or recur.
- Immunotherapy: This treatment stimulates your immune system to produce more cancer-fighting cells or help healthy cells identify and attack cancer cells. Immunotherapy can be added to chemotherapy to before surgery to shrink the tumor. You might also receive immunotherapy for about a year after your surgery and post-surgery radiation therapy.
Tnbc Targeted Therapy And Potential Treatment Regimens
Due to the high heterogeneity of TNBC, it is particularly difficult to discover new therapeutic targets and perform targeted therapy. Currently, there are a large number of ongoing clinical trials targeting specific receptors or on targeted therapies of TNBC based on immunohistochemical staining results.
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Breast Cancer And Test Results: Is A Positive Really A Negative
I recently received the following text: “Hi! My friend just came back with a double negative on her breast cancer . What does that mean?”
When a patient is faced with the shock and worry associated with breast cancer, there are many issues to face and decisions to be made. The last thing she needs is to be confused by the results of diagnostic tests. Sometimes a “positive” or “negative” test result can be confusing because it’s not always clear if it is good or bad news. Your doctor might, for example, tell you that a test result is positive, which gives you the false impression that it’s a good outcome. Similarly, when a result is negative, it sounds bad when it could in fact be good news. It’s important that you fully understand the implications of any test results, but particularly ones in which the results can be ambiguous.
There are basically two types of medical test results:
“Relative” results: These provide information about how the levels of certain substances compare to those that are considered within a healthy range by the medical community. A blood test would fall in this category.
Let’s decode some results of tests associated with breast cancer:
Positive Biopsy: Not good. This means that the biopsy of the suspicious area on a mammogram or ultrasound is a pre-cancer or cancer.
When it comes to medical test results, don’t be afraid to ask questions. Be sure you understand exactly what your test results are telling you so that you can make informed decisions.
Do I Need Genetic Counseling And Testing
Your doctor may recommend that you see a genetic counselor. Thats someone who talks to you about any history of cancer in your family to find out if you have a higher risk for getting breast cancer. For example, people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage have a higher risk of inherited genetic changes that may cause breast cancers, including triple-negative breast cancer. The counselor may recommend that you get a genetic test.
If you have a higher risk of getting breast cancer, your doctor may talk about ways to manage your risk. You may also have a higher risk of getting other cancers such as ovarian cancer, and your family may have a higher risk. Thats something you would talk with the genetic counselor about.
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