Scientists say triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) can be divided into six distinct subgroups, all of which respond differently to chemotherapy. In an article published in the July 2011 issue of Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers from Vanderbilt University’s Ingram Cancer Center say the disease can be grouped according to:
• two basal-like subtypes, which they call BL1 and BL2; these are correlated with cell cycle and DNA damage response genes
• two “mesanchymal” types, which they call M and MSL; these correlate to genes involved in cell differentiation and growth factor pathways
• an immunomodularity type, which they call IM, correlated with immune system genes
• a luminal group,which they call LAR, correlated with androgen, or the male sex hormone.
The groups respond differently to chemotherapy:
• BL1 and BL2 respond to cisplatin
• M and MSL respond to dastanib and an experimental drug NVP-BEZ235
• LAR respond to biculatamide
Read the entire news release from Vanderbilt here.