This term is used to describe breast cancers that do not involve any of the following:

• oestrogen receptors (ER)
• progesterone receptors (PR)
• human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)

Pathology shows that the tumour tests negative for these factors.

Triple Negative Breast cancer may be referred to as ER negative, PR negative and HER2 negative (ER-ve, PR-ve and HER2-ve).

Hormone treatments based on these receptors are not relevant as the tumour is not driven by any of these hormones. Approximately 15% of tumours test negative for all three receptors.

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are treatment options even though the hormone treatments are not.

Several different Chemotherapy treatments are currently used for Triple Negative BC, especially in advanced triple negative BC, and more are currently in trials.

Triple Negative is an easy way of saying what it isn’t, rather than what it is. It has not yet been established what drives this type of Breast Cancer and it is likely there is not one type of triple negative tumour but several different types. Research into what drives these tumours is ongoing.

Because new information is emerging all the time, information about tumours which are er, pr and her2 –ve is best found on websites which keep up to date with current research and developments both in discovery of driving factors and treatments and the increasing number of trials.

In getting support for a new diagnosis of triple negative, a good approach may be to see how much your medics know about it, how much they keep up with current findings and also how aware they are about research and trials.

The most up to date information can only be found by checking recent articles and it is best to be cautious about what you read on websites that may not be up to date.

For more information on triple negative breast cancer:

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TNBC FOUNDATION
Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation

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The Frontier Edge: New Appreciation of Triple Negative Disease
Breast Cancer Watch Digest

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BREASTCANCER . ORG

This link Triple Negative at Breastcancer.org can be used to retrieve information on triple negative BC on the breastcancer.org website:

These are examples of topics at Breastcancer.org:

2007

Updates from American Society of Clinical Oncology
Medications for triple-negative coming?

2006

Developments in triple-negative treatment
IBC (Inflammatory Breast Cancer) triple negative treatment
New research for triple-negative survivors

There are many other topics covered from 2005 on the breastcancer.org website.

Examples are:

HR negative advances?
News on metaplastic breast cancer?

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Diagnosed with triple negative invasive ductal cancer by cb