Metastatic and triple-negative breast cancer: challenges and treatment options

Abstract

The major current conventional types of metastatic breast cancer (MBC) treatments include surgery, radiation, hormonal therapy, chemotherapy, or immunotherapy. Introducing biological drugs, targeted treatment and gene therapy can potentially reduce the mortality and improve the quality of life in patients with MBC. However, combination of several types of treatment is usually recommended. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 10–20% of all cases of breast carcinoma and is characterized by the low expression of progesterone receptor (PR), estrogen receptor (ER), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Consequently, convenient treatments used for MBC that target these receptors are not effective for TNBC which therefore requires special treatment approaches. This review discusses the occurrence of MBC, the prognosis and predictive biomarkers of MBC, and focuses on the novel advanced tactics for treatment of MBC and TNBC. Nanotechnology-based combinatorial approach for the suppression of EGFR by siRNA and gifitinib is described.

Sorafenib Inhibits Proliferation, Migration and Invasion of Breast Cancer Cells

“…Breast cancer accounts for 30% of the newly diagnosed cases of cancer in women [1][2][3], with most cancer-related deaths occurring as a result of metastasis to distal organs [4]. Breast cancer metastasis is a sequential process driven by several factors and it begins with local invasion in the host tissue [4][5][6].…”

Proteomics Identification and Validation of Desmocollin‐1 and Catechol‐O‐Methyltransferase as Proteins Associated with Breast Cancer Cell Migration and Metastasis

“…In women with breast cancer who are younger than 50 years of age, chemotherapy increases their 15‐year survival rate by 10%; in older women the increase is 3% . Such a systemic and non‐specific therapy of metastatic BC suffers from many side effects and, moreover, many metastatic BC patients are over‐treated due to a weak response, especially in triple‐negative BC (TNBC) . Therefore, there is an urgent clinical need to identify new pro‐metastatic proteins that could distinguish between high risk and low risk patients, and direct them toward the appropriate targeted treatment.…”

“…[2] Such a systemic and non-specific therapy of metastatic BC suffers from many side effects and, moreover, many metastatic BC patients are overtreated due to a weak response, especially in triple-negative BC (TNBC). [3] Therefore, there is an urgent clinical need to identify new pro-metastatic proteins that could distinguish between high risk and low risk patients, and direct them toward the appropriate targeted treatment. A major group of targets consists of transmembrane proteins with extracellular domain(s) accessible from the extracellular environment, which have the potential to become promising targets of biological anti-metastatic therapy.…”

Integration of whole‐genome sequencing and functional screening identifies a prognostic signature for lung metastasis in triple‐negative breast cancer

“…Triple‐negative breast cancer (TNBC), which lacks estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) expression as well as human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) amplification, is one of the most aggressive breast cancer subtypes. TNBC accounts for approximately 15–20% of breast cancer cases and has a high rate of metastasis, particularly to the visceral organs, such as the lung, liver and brain . The majority of cancer‐related deaths are caused by metastatic relapse, and the lung is one of the most commonly seen sites of TNBC spread .…”

“…TNBC accounts for approximately 15-20% of breast cancer cases 2 and has a high rate of metastasis, particularly to the visceral organs, such as the lung, liver and brain. 1,3 The majority of cancer-related deaths are caused by metastatic relapse, 4 and the lung is one of the most commonly seen sites of TNBC spread. 4,5 However, the underlying mechanisms regarding the high frequency of TNBC patients with lung metastasis remain largely unknown.…”