Dean S J R, Rhodes A
University of the West of England, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, Bristol, United kingdom.
Malays J Pathol. 2014 Dec;36(3):155-62.
The incidence of breast cancer in Malaysia and other Asian countries is on the increase, reflecting lifestyle changes some of which are known risk factors for the development of breast cancer. Most breast cancers are amenable to adjuvant therapies that target hormone receptors or HER2 receptors on the surface of the cancer cells and bring about significant improvement in survival. However, approximately 17% of Malaysian women with breast cancer, present with tumours that are devoid of these receptors and are consequently termed 'triple negative' breast cancers. These triple negative breast cancers typically occur in women of a younger age than receptor positive cancers, are predominantly of high grade tumours and the prognosis is usually poor. There is therefore a pressing need to understand the biological pathways that drive these tumours, in order that effective strategies are developed to treat these aggressive tumours. With the increasing affluence of developing countries, obesity and Type II Diabetes are also on the rise. These diseases are associated with an increased risk of developing a range of cancers including those of the breast. In particular, the metabolic syndrome has been shown to be associated with triple negative breast cancer. This article reviews some of the metabolic pathways and biomarkers which have been shown to be aberrantly expressed in triple negative breast cancer and highlights some of the ongoing work in this area.
马来西亚及其他亚洲国家的乳腺癌发病率呈上升趋势，这反映出生活方式的改变，其中一些是已知的乳腺癌发病风险因素。大多数乳腺癌适合采用针对癌细胞表面激素受体或HER2受体的辅助治疗，从而显著提高生存率。然而，约17%的马来西亚乳腺癌女性患者所患肿瘤缺乏这些受体，因此被称为“三阴性”乳腺癌。这些三阴性乳腺癌通常发生在比受体阳性癌症患者年龄更小的女性身上，主要是高级别肿瘤，预后通常较差。因此，迫切需要了解驱动这些肿瘤的生物学途径，以便制定有效的策略来治疗这些侵袭性肿瘤。随着发展中国家日益富裕，肥胖和II型糖尿病的发病率也在上升。这些疾病与包括乳腺癌在内的一系列癌症发病风险增加有关。特别是，代谢综合征已被证明与三阴性乳腺癌有关。本文综述了一些已被证明在三阴性乳腺癌中异常表达的代谢途径和生物标志物，并重点介绍了该领域一些正在进行的研究工作。
