Information about breast cancer

Seven questions about triple-negative breast cancer

A breast cancer diagnosis instills fear, and triple-negative breast cancer even more so. What makes this type of breast cancer so different?

1. What is triple-negative breast cancer?

Triple-negative breast cancer or TNBC (triple-negative breast cancer) is a subtype of breast cancer with its own characteristics. Triple-negative breast cancer lacks three receptors that are present in the other types. Receptors are locks on the outside of a cell and with which the cell interacts with its environment. TNBC lacks three locks or receptors: estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors and HER2 ("human epidermal growth factor receptor 2").

2. Why is TNBC more difficult to treat?

All types of breast cancer except triple-negative, carry receptors for hormones on their cell surface. This allows them to be treated with hormone therapy or HER2 inhibitors. Because these receptors are missing in TNBC, there are fewer treatment options.

3. Why do some breast cancer patients have TNBC and others do not?

We don't know. Some factors are known to increase the risk of TNBC: being young (not yet menopausal), having black skin color and being a carrier of an inherited breast cancer gene.

4. How is TNBC diagnosed?

Either one feels a lump in the breast or notices some other alarm sign for breast cancer, or the tumor is found in a screening mammogram. To know if it is TNBC, a biopsy must always be taken (piece of tissue from the suspected lesion) and this is examined in a lab for the presence of receptors. Only then can one tell if the cancer is a TNBC.

5. How is TNBC treated?

Treatment depends on the stage at which TNBC is discovered. It usually consists of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Sometimes they give immunotherapy, targeted therapy or a combination drug. The latter is specific to TNBC with metastases.

6. What are the survival rates of TNBC?

Survival rates depend on the stage at which the cancer is discovered. If TNBC is detected and treated at an early stage, you can be cured. If the cancer has already spread, healing is no longer possible, but you can survive for several years with specific medication.

7. Is there any research being done on TNBC?

Absolutely. TNBC may be the least common type of breast cancer, but it affects a lot of women and often in the prime of their lives. Several pharmaceutical laboratories are specifically targeting TNBC, which has already led to important drugs that we also have available in Belgium.

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Pink Ribbon : "Far too little attention is paid to the group of patients with the most severe diagnoses" 

Breast cancer is diagnosed more than 11,000 times a year in Belgium, 100 times more often in women than in men. Thanks to the spectacular progress in breast cancer detection and treatment, there is a lot of good news to tell: more than 9 out of 10 women with non-proliferating breast cancer survive at least 5 years after diagnosis. And 8 in 10 breast cancers, moreover, will never metastasize. But that's not the whole story! In Belgium, between 2,300 and 2,500 women die annually from breast cancer, because 2 out of 10 breast cancers do metastasize sooner or later. As a result, breast cancer remains the leading cause of death among women affected by cancer.
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Hereditary breast cancer is not a doomsday scenario; there are solutions

Ten percent of all breast cancers are hereditary. That means there are abnormal genes in the hereditary material that greatly increase the risk of breast cancer. The best-known breast cancer genes are BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA stands for BReastCAncer). They are passed down from generation to generation. Men can also inherit these genes and pass them on to their offspring. Moreover, both breast cancer genes are dominant. If one of your parents carries the gene, you have a 50 percent chance of inheriting it.
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Relapse after breast cancer

Fear of relapse after breast cancer

Once the treatments are over, everyone breathes a sigh of relief, except you, who have survived the cancer. Your body doesn't feel the same, but most of all, sometimes the fear of the cancer returning creeps up on you. Cancer instills fear. Especially in the first year after diagnosis, but also later, especially during check-ups, fear of relapse sometimes rears its ugly head. This is normal. The majority of all cancer survivors face it regularly.

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