BRCA gene activity in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Relevance for prognosis and therapy?

Breast cancer accounts for almost 172,000 cases per year and is currently the most common form of cancer in women. Almost 500,000 women die each year from the disease. Breast cancer seems to be triggered by multiple factors. Among the subtypes of breast cancer currently known triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) represents around 20% of all breast cancer and these patients show poor overall prognostic features. As TNBC is associated with a lack of both estrogen and progesterone receptors, as well as a lack of her2-neu expression, endocrine and receptor targeted therapies are insufficient. Despite their overall heterogeneity in clinical outcome, molecular and pathological behavior, little is known about TNBC. Thus TNBC is increasingly being recognized within the cancer research community. It is known that some forms of TNBC are associated with im-paired cellular repair mechanisms as seen in BRCA-1 gene mutations, known as BRCAness. Based on these findings, the use of a selective blockade of repair mechanisms can provide future directions in TNBC therapy. © Springer-Verlag 2010.