Health Dictionary
Reliable, easy-to-read patient information on common medical conditions — written in plain language, free of jargon, and grounded in current evidence. Browse the most frequent diagnoses, understand what they mean for everyday life, and learn which steps and questions help you have a focused conversation with your doctor.
Basal-like carcinoma
Introduction
Overview
Overview
The basal-like breast carcinoma is a newly proposed subtype of breast cancer defined by its gene expression and protein expression profile [1]. In the current WHO breast tumor classification, these tumors are classified as ductal carcinoma. They are high grade, “triple-negative” tumors, i.e. they express no estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor nor Her2/neu proteins.
Basal-like carcinomas tend to be more aggressive, with a poor prognosis. In the U.S., they are more frequent among black women, which may explain the higher mortality rate in this group.
References
References
- ↑ Phenotypic evaluation of the basal-like subtype of invasive breast carcinoma, Modern Pathology 19:264-271 (2006), via www.nature.com