Cancer

Internal medicine

Oncology

Immunohistochemistry

Estrogen

Disease

Triple-negative breast cancer

Biomarker

Cancer research

Breast cancer

Clinical trial

Biochemistry

Carcinogenesis

Bioinformatics

Medicine

Estrogen receptor

Biology

Progesterone receptor

Critical Reviews in Oncology/Hematology

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is defined as a type of breast cancer with lack of expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and HER2 protein. The tumorigenesis is not likely to be driven by hormonal or HER2 pathway. In comparison to other types of breast cancer, TNBC stands out for its aggressive behavior, more prone to early recurrence. Historically, TNBC has been considered a disease with poor response to molecular target therapy, requiring better validation of biomarkers. Recent issues related to tumor heterogeneity have been widely discussed suggesting the subdivision of TNBC into different molecular subtypes. Through a complete research on the main published trials databases and platforms of ongoing clinical studies, the current manuscript was carried out in order to present a critical view of the role of immunohistochemical and molecular biomarkers for the prognosis and response prediction of TNBC to traditional therapy and new molecular target agents.

Triple negative breast cancer: A thorough review of biomarkers