Triple negative breast carcinomas: similarities and differences with basal like carcinomas.
The cDNA microarrays allows the classification of breast cancers into 6 groups: luminal A, luminal B, luminal C, normal breast-like, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive, and basal-like. This latter is characterized by the expression of basal cytokeratins (CKs), and frequent negativity for hormone receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. There is a marked parallelism between triple negative breast carcinomas and basal-like carcinoma, but these are not equivalent terms. Estimated concordance is around 80%. CK5 seems to be the best marker for the identification of these tumors. Other good markers to identify these tumors are CK14, CK17, and epidermal growth factor receptor. A subset of triple negative breast carcinomas has myoepithelial differentiation, with positivities for smooth muscle actin, p63, S-100, and CD10 among others. Recent studies suggest that basal like carcinomas are originated from mammary stem cells.
Lerma
Enrique
E
Department of Pathology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Barnadas
Agusti
A
Prat
Jaime
J
D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007633:Keratins / Q000378:metabolism; D042361:Mammary Glands, Human / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D023461:Myeloid Progenitor Cells / Q000473:pathology; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism
D020533:Angiogenesis Inhibitors; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D007633:Keratins; D066246:ErbB Receptors