Novel transcripts associated with lymph node metastasis in triple negative breast cancer [discovery cohort]

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive breast cancer subtype with the worst prognosis. It is characterised by the absence of hormone receptors for estrogen, progesterone, and human epidermal growth factor 2, and as a consequence there are no targeted endocrine treatments available. TNBC patients are more likely to develop metastases and disease relapse than patients with other breast cancer subtypes. The identification of biomarkers that can be used to predict which patient is likely to develop metastatic disease remains a priority since this is the major cause of cancer-related death in these women. A total of 33 grade 3 invasive ductal carcinomas were used in this study, from which we were able to compare 17 matched normal adjacent tissues from the tumour specimens and 15 lymph node metastases. Gene expression microarray analysis was used to reveal which transcripts were differentially expressed between patients with lymph node involvement and those who only presented with a primary tumour.