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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Feb 10.
Published in final edited form as: Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2010 Jan 22;120(2):285–291. doi: 10.1007/s10549-010-0736-z

Figure 1. “Triple Negative” Disease in the Context of “Basal-like” Breast Cancer.

Figure 1

Classification of so called triple negative breast cancers is beginning to be modified by inclusion of immunohistochemistry for various markers. Triple negative breast cancers exhibit a range of molecular and clinical properties that suggest that they are comprised of several subtypes. There is a tendency to equate basal-like tumors with triple negative due to ER/PR negative status and no amplification and/or overexpression of HER2, yet as many as 10–20% of triple negative tumors exhibit a non-basal genomic profile and there appear to be at least 5 molecular subtypes. Evaluating the molecular characteristics, between the different subtypes may be essential to understanding the natural histories and their responsiveness to treatment.