Transcriptome profiling of tumors from Caucasian and African American triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients.

Triple negative breast cancer is an aggressive phenotypic breast cancer characterized by ER negative, PR negative and Her2 negative immunohistochemistry status. We embarked on a study to explore the transcriptome of African American and Caucasian TNBC patients and identify race specific biomarkers. Total RNA was extracted from FFPE (Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded) sections from each TNBC patients. RNA-seq experiment was performed to study RNA level expression profiles of protein-coding and non-coding genes. The transcriptome sequencing profile of African American and Caucasian TNBC patients were compared to identify race specific TNBC biomarkers.