Pathogenesis And Treatment Of Breast Cancer - 1235 Words

Pathogenesis It is known that cancer, in general, is a group of diseases that is characterized by the out-of-control growth and spread of a group of abnormal cells, which can often times result in death. More specifically, breast cancer is a hormonally dependent disease, which causes malignancy in the epithelial cells of the ducts and/or lobules of the breast (Lippman, 2012). Therefore, â€Å"women without functioning ovaries, who never receive estrogen-replacement therapy, do not develop breast cancer† (Lippman, 2012). Genomic profiling has furthered research and understanding of this complex disease process by identifying further tumor subtypes and molecular alterations of the disease. (Stopeck, 2009). Based upon the specific gene†¦show more content†¦They tend to be less responsive to chemotherapy† (Lippman, 2012). The second identified subtype is Luminal B. Luminal B tumor cells are epithelial in origin, have a different gene expression pattern than that of Luminal A, and have a worse prognosis than Luminal A (Lippman, 2012). The third subtype is known as normal breast-like subtype, which express genes similar to that of normal breast epithelium and appears somewhat nonmalignant, with a prognosis similar to that of Luminal B (Lippman, 2012). The fourth subtype is known as HER2 amplified, which means that these have an increase in the HER2 gene found on chromosome 17q and often have overexpression of genes that are adjacent to the HER2 (Lippman, 2012). Before recent research and studies, the prognosis of a patient with such subtype was quite poor however, with the recent advances in therapy designed to directly target such, the clinical outcome for these patients is improving dramatically (Lippman, 2012). Lastly is the basal type. These are typically called the â€Å"triple negative† type in that they are estrogen-receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2 negative tumors. They are characterized by basal/myoepithelial cells and tend to be â€Å"high-grade, and express cytokeratins 5/6 and 17 as well as vimentin, p63, CD10, and alpha-smooth muscle actin, and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)† (Lippman, 2012). Patients with BRCA mutations also fall within this molecular subtype.