Triple negative breast cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of the disease and accounts for about 20 percent of all breast cancers. It’s called triple negative because it does not have any of the main drivers of breast cancerthe estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor, and the HER2 receptorand consequently doesn’t respond to treatments that target them. The main treatment is chemotherapy, immunotherapy or participation in clinical trials.
Is My Cancer Really Triple-Negative?
Dr. Heather McArthur, Clinical Director of the Breast Cancer Program at Simmons Cancer Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has spoken with SurvivorNet on this relevant topic.
Read More You might be told you have triple-negative breast cancer, that means that your cancer is not being fueled by any of the three main types of receptors: estrogen, progesterone nor the HER2 protein. But now you could be categorized as
HER2 low instead of HER2 negative. Breast cancer cells with higher-than-normal levels of HER2 are called HER2-positive, those with low levels of HER2 are (or were) called HER2 negative. Recently, however, researchers have looked to further expand this definition to include patients that have a minimal amount of HER2 expression but do not meet the classic definition for HER2-positive tumors. This group has been called
HER2 "low" and is very important as it represents almost 50% of all patients with breast cancer. This excitement stems from the fact that HER2-low breast cancers are targetable with a recently new FDA-approved
Enhertu (Fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki). It appears that Enhertu is extremely effective for appropriate patients and can greatly improve their quality of life and help them live longer.
Therefore, it is exceedingly important to discuss with your physician about your HER2 status.
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Dr. Rodrigo C. Leão Edelmuth is a board certified digestive surgeon at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein in São Paulo, Brazil. He holds his General Surgery and Digestive Surgery degree from São Paulo University Medical School. He underwent a postgraduate course on Surgical Leadership at Harvard Medical School and he is also a visiting fellow in the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. Read More
