REVIEWS  DIAGNOSIS OF BREAST RECURRENCE 

The Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2013 December;57(4):312-21

Copyright © 2013 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Biological subtypes of breast cancer: current concepts and implications for recurrence patterns

Cadoo K. A. ¹, Fornier M. N. ¹, Morris P. G. ^{1, 3} ✉

¹ The Breast Cancer Medicine Service Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, USA; ² TBeaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland; ³ The all Ireland Cooperative Oncology Research Group Ireland and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center New York, USA

Breast cancer is comprised of a number of complex and heterogeneous subtypes with differing clinical behavior and outcomes. In recent years, significant advances have been made in discerning the molecular drivers of this disease, and characterizing distinct subtypes of breast cancer based on gene expression profiles. These advances have begun to translate into greater individualization of treatment for patients. Although these advances have shaped our understanding of the underlying biology of breast cancer, most clinical decisions are currently based on tumor expression of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). These biomarkers have prognostic and predictive significance in breast cancer and have important implications for tumor growth and metastatic patterns. In this review, we focus on the three broad phenotypes of breast cancer used in clinical practice; ER/PR positive, HER2 positive and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), which is characterized by lack of expression of ER, PR and HER2. We discuss the influence of these tumor-related factors as well as histological subtype, on the potential for breast cancer recurrence and patterns of disease spread.