Immediate and long-term outcomes of drug treatment in patients with metastatic triple negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) comprises 12-20 % of all breast cancers. TNBC is defined by the absence of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PgR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) expression. TNBC is a heterogeneous disease, with an aggressive clinical feature, a higher risk of both local and distant visceral and / or brain metastases. Recurrence usually develops between 1 and 3 years after the initial diagnosis and most deaths occur within 5 years. Epidemiologic studies illustrate a high prevalence of triple-negative breast cancers among young women. Triple-negative breast cancer is also more likely to occur in women that carry a BRCA mutation, especially if they are diagnosed at a young age. Cytotoxic chemotherapy remains the mainstay treatment for TNBC because there are currently no specific targets for treatment options (hormone receptors or HER-2 amplification). Chemotherapy combined with targeted agents including DNA repair with PARP inhibitors, EGFR inhibitors, anti-angiogenic agents and a Chk1 inhibitor produced modest improvement in response rate and overall survival. Nevertheless there’s no common standards for treatment such patients with metastatic TNBC. Progress in the development of new regimens and combination of drug treatment agents for patient with generalized TNBC remains an important challenge that could lead to improvement immediate and long-term outcomes