Clinicopathologic Features And Related Prognosis Factors Analysis Of The Basal And Non-basal Phenotype Of Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Object: Triple-negative breast cancer (estrogen receptor- negative, progesterone receptor-negative and Her2-negative) can be classified into two subtypes: basal and non-basal phenotype. Among these subtypes the basal phenotype is associated with poor outcome. For normal cases, clinicopathological test only involves screening for ER, PR, and Her-2, which could not differentiate the two subtypes; therefore the therapeutic approach based on the diagnosis result can't effectively target the two subtypes. To study the differences of clinicopathological characters and related factors of prognosis between these two subtypes.Method: Immunohistochemical staining was performed for the CK5/6, CK17 basal markers and EGFR in 40 triple-negative patients for the purpose of classifying as basal or non-basal phenotype, and the clinicopathology was investigated.Results: 70% were the basal phenotype. Compared with the non-basal phenotype, the basal phenotype lesions were significantly larger in diameter and a high nuclear grade. No differences were found between the BP and NBP groups in relation to the age, menopause, pathological classification, and status of lymph node metastasis, location of primary tumor, status of abortion, gynecological diseases and expression of P53. In the node-negative group the basal phenotype clearly showed those same clinicopathological differences. There was statistically significant concordance among all of the three antibodies.Conclusions: It is important to perform basal marker immunohisto-chemical staining and classify lesions as the basal or the non-basal phenotype, since this will aid in forecasting the prognosis and deciding the therapeutic strategy for triple-negative breast cancer.Others: There is a statistically significant concordance among all of the three antibodies (CK5/6, CK17, and EGFR). The result is very important for clinico- pathologic analysis. We can also choose one or two markers, especially CK5/6, to detect and decide the BP type based on the expression.