Top

Published in:

01-04-2008 | Review Article

Basal-like subtype of breast cancer: a review of its unique characteristics and their clinical significance

Author: Shunzo Kobayashi

Published in: Breast Cancer | Issue 2/2008

Abstract

Subtyping of breast cancers by means of DNA microarray analyses has given rise to the new concept of the basal-like subtype; this subtype is in effect the equivalent of so-called “triple-negative” breast cancer. Basal-like breast cancer has aggressive characteristics, such as high histological grade, mutation of the TP53 gene, and negative hormone receptors. It tends to occur in relatively young women and is highly correlated with suppression of BRCA1 function. The EGFR gene is often overexpressed in this subtype. Here, research carried out in the last few years into the basal-like subtype of breast cancer will be reviewed.

Perou CM, Sorlie T, Eisen MB, van de Rijn M, Jeffrey SS, Rees CA, Pollack JR, Ross DT, Johnsen H, Akslen LA, Fluge O, Pergamenschikov A, Williams C, Zhu SX, Lonning PE, Borresen-Dale AL, Brown PO, Botstein D. Molecular portraits of human breast tumours. Nature. 2000;406:747–52.PubMedCrossRef

Sorlie T, Perou CM, Tibshirani R, Aas T, Geisler S, Johnsen H, Hastie T, Eisen MB, van de Rijn M, Jeffrey SS, Thorsen T, Quist H, Matese JC, Brown PO, Botstein D, Eystein Lonning P, Borresen-Dale AL. Gene expression patterns of breast carcinomas distinguish tumor subclasses with clinical implications. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2001;98:10869–74.PubMedCrossRef

Sorlie T, Tibshirani R, Parker J, Hastie T, Marron JS, Nobel A, Deng S, Johnsen H, Pesich R, Geisler S, Demeter J, Perou CM, Lonning PE, Brown PO, Borresen-Dale AL, Botstein D. Repeated observation of breast tumor subtypes in independent gene expression data sets. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2003;100:8418–23.PubMedCrossRef

Perreard L, Fan C, Quackenbush JF, Mullins M, Gauthier NP, Nelson E, Mone M, Hansen H, Buys SS, Rasmussen K, Orrico AR, Dreher D, Walters R, Parker J, Hu Z, He X, Palazzo JP, Olopade OI, Szabo A, Perou CM, Bernard PS. Classification and risk stratification of invasive breast carcinomas using a real-time quantitative RT-PCR assay. Breast Cancer Res. 2006;8:R23.

Foulkes WD, Brunet JS, Stefansson IM, Straume O, Chappuis PO, Begin LR, Hamel N, Goffin JR, Wong N, Trudel M, Kapusta L, Porter P, Akslen LA. The prognostic implication of the basal-like (cyclin E high/p27 low/p53+/glomeruloid-microvascular-proliferation+) phenotype of BRCA1-related breast cancer. Cancer Res. 2004;64:830–5.PubMedCrossRef

Hu Z, Fan C, Oh DS, Marron JS, He X, Qaqish BF, Livasy C, Carey LA, Reynolds E, Dressler L, Nobel A, Parker J, Ewend MG, Sawyer LR, Wu J, Liu Y, Nanda R, Tretiakova M, Ruiz Orrico A, Dreher D, Palazzo JP, Perreard L, Nelson E, Mone M, Hansen H, Mullins M, Quackenbush JF, Ellis MJ, Olopade OI, Bernard PS, Perou CM. The molecular portraits of breast tumors are conserved across microarray platforms. BMC Genomics. 2006;7:96.

Sorlie T, Wang Y, Xiao C, Johnsen H, Naume B, Samaha RR, Borresen-Dale AL. Distinct molecular mechanisms underlying clinically relevant subtypes of breast cancer: gene expression analyses across three different platforms. BMC Genomics. 2006;7:127.PubMedCrossRef

Bergamaschi A, Kim YH, Wang P, Sorlie T, Hernandez-Boussard T, Lonning PE, Tibshirani R, Borresen-Dale AL, Pollack JR. Distinct patterns of DNA copy number alteration are associated with different clinicopathological features and gene-expression subtypes of breast cancer. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2006;45:1033–40.PubMedCrossRef

Kim MJ, Ro JY, Ahn SH, Kim HH, Kim SB, Gong G. Clinicopathologic significance of the basal-like subtype of breast cancer: a comparison with hormone receptor and HER2/neu-overexpressing phenotypes. Hum Pathol. 2006;37:1217–26.PubMedCrossRef

10.

Carey LA, Perou CM, Livasy CA, Dressler LG, Cowan D, Conway K, Karaca G, Troester MA, Tse CK, Edmiston S, Deming SL, Geradts J, Cheang MC, Nielsen TO, Moorman PG, Earp HS, Millikan RC. Race, breast cancer subtypes, and survival in the Carolina breast cancer study. JAMA. 2006;295:2492–502.PubMedCrossRef

11.

Calza S, Hall P, Auer G, Bjohle J, Klaar S, Kronenwett U, Liu ET, Miller L, Ploner A, Smeds J, Bergh J, Pawitan Y. Intrinsic molecular signature of breast cancer in a population-based cohort of 412 patients. Breast Cancer Res. 2006;8:R34.PubMedCrossRef

12.

Livasy CA, Perou CM, Karaca G, Cowan DW, Maia D, Jackson S, Tse CK, Nyante S, Millikan RC. Identification of a basal-like subtype of breast ductal carcinoma in situ. Hum Pathol. 2007;38:197–204.PubMedCrossRef

13.

Matos I, Dufloth R, Alvarenga M, Zeferino LC, Schmitt F. p63, cytokeratin 5, and P-cadherin: three molecular markers to distinguish basal phenotype in breast carcinomas. Virchows Arch. 2005;447:688–94.PubMedCrossRef

14.

Furberg H, Millikan R, Dressler L, Newman B, Geradts J. Tumor characteristics in African American and white women. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2001;68:33–43.PubMedCrossRef

15.

Porter PL, Lund MJ, Lin MG, Yuan X, Liff JM, Flagg EW, Coates RJ, Eley JW. Racial differences in the expression of cell cycle-regulatory proteins in breast carcinoma. Cancer. 2004;100(12):2533–42.PubMedCrossRef

16.

Eley JW, Hill HA, Chen VW, Austin DF, Wesley MN, Muss HB, Greenberg RS, Coates RJ, Correa P, Redmond CK, et al. Racial differences in survival from breast cancer. Results of the national cancer institute Black/White cancer survival study. JAMA. 1994;272:947–54.PubMedCrossRef

17.

Nielsen TO, Hsu FD, Jensen K, Cheang M, Karaca G, Hu Z, Hernandez-Boussard T, Livasy C, Cowan D, Dressler L, Akslen LA, Ragaz J, Gown AM, Gilks CB, van de Rijn M, Perou CM. Immunohistochemical and clinical characterization of the basal-like subtype of invasive breast carcinoma. Clin Cancer Res. 2004;10:5367–374.PubMedCrossRef

18.

Fan C, Oh DS, Wessels L, Weigelt B, Nuyten DS, Nobel AB, van’t Veer LJ, Perou CM. Concordance among gene-expression-based predictors for breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2006;355:560–9.PubMedCrossRef

19.

Kurebayashi J, Moriya T, Ishida T, Hirayama H, Kurosumi M, Akiyama F, Kinoshita T, Takei H, Takahashi K, Ikeda M, Nakashima K. The prevalence of intrinsic subtypes and prognosis in breast cancer patients of different races. Breast. 2007;16 Suppl 2:S72–7. doi:10.1016/j.breast.2007.07.017.PubMedCrossRef

20.

Bryan BB, Schnitt SJ, Collins LC. Ductal carcinoma in situ with basal-like phenotype: a possible precursor to invasive basal-like breast cancer. Mod Pathol. 2006;19:617–21.PubMedCrossRef

21.

Eisen MB, Spellman PT, Brown PO, Botstein D. Cluster analysis and display of genome-wide expression patterns. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1998;95:14863–8.PubMedCrossRef

22.

Livasy CA, Karaca G, Nanda R, Tretiakova MS, Olopade OI, Moore DT, Perou CM. Phenotypic evaluation of the basal-like subtype of invasive breast carcinoma. Mod Pathol. 2006;19:264–71.PubMedCrossRef

23.

Eisinger F, Stoppa-Lyonnet D, Longy M, Kerangueven F, Noguchi T, Bailly C, Vincent-Salomon A, Jacquemier J, Birnbaum D, Sobol H. Germ line mutation at BRCA1 affects the histoprognostic grade in hereditary breast cancer. Cancer Res. 1996;56:471–4.PubMed

24.

Marcus JN, Watson P, Page DL, Narod SA, Lenoir GM, Tonin P, Linder-Stephenson L, Salerno G, Conway TA, Lynch HT. Hereditary breast cancer: pathobiology, prognosis, and BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene linkage. Cancer. 1996;77:697–709.PubMedCrossRef

25.

Eerola H, Vahteristo P, Sarantaus L, Kyyronen P, Pyrhonen S, Blomqvist C, Pukkala E, Nevanlinna H, Sankila R. Survival of breast cancer patients in BRCA1, BRCA2, and non-BRCA1/2 breast cancer families: a relative survival analysis from Finland. Int J Cancer. 2001;93:368–72.PubMedCrossRef

26.

Yang Q, Sakurai T, Mori I, Yoshimura G, Nakamura M, Nakamura Y, Suzuma T, Tamaki T, Umemura T, Kakudo K. Prognostic significance of BRCA1 expression in Japanese sporadic breast carcinomas. Cancer. 2001;92:54–60.PubMedCrossRef

27.

Foulkes WD, Stefansson IM, Chappuis PO, Begin LR, Goffin JR, Wong N, Trudel M, Akslen LA. Germline BRCA1 mutations and a basal epithelial phenotype in breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2003;95:1482–5.PubMed

28.

Lakhani SR, Reis-Filho JS, Fulford L, Penault-Llorca F, van der Vijver M, Parry S, Bishop T, Benitez J, Rivas C, Bignon YJ, Chang-Claude J, Hamann U, Cornelisse CJ, Devilee P, Beckmann MW, Nestle-Kramling C, Daly PA, Haites N, Varley J, Lalloo F, Evans G, Maugard C, Meijers-Heijboer H, Klijn JG, Olah E, Gusterson BA, Pilotti S, Radice P, Scherneck S, Sobol H, Jacquemier J, Wagner T, Peto J, Stratton MR, McGuffog L, Easton DF. Breast Cancer Linkage Consortium. Prediction of BRCA1 status in patients with breast cancer using estrogen receptor and basal phenotype. Clin Cancer Res. 2005;11:5175–80.PubMedCrossRef

29.

Yang Q, Yoshimura G, Nakamura M, Nakamura Y, Suzuma T, Umemura T, Mori I, Sakurai T, Kakudo K. BRCA1 in non-inherited breast carcinomas (Review). Oncol Rep. 2002;9:1329–33.PubMed

30.

Matros E, Wang ZC, Lodeiro G, Miron A, Iglehart JD, Richardson AL. BRCA1 promoter methylation in sporadic breast tumors: relationship to gene expression profiles. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2005;91:179–86.PubMedCrossRef

31.

Turner NC, Reis-Filho JS, Russell AM, Springall RJ, Ryder K, Steele D, Savage K, Gillett CE, Schmitt FC, Ashworth A, Tutt AN. BRCA1 dysfunction in sporadic basal-like breast cancer. Oncogene. 2007;26:2126–32.PubMedCrossRef

32.

Beger C, Pierce LN, Kruger M, Marcusson EG, Robbins JM, Welcsh P, Welch PJ, Welte K, King MC, Barber JR, Wong-Staal F. Identification of Id4 as a regulator of BRCA1 expression by using a ribozyme-library-based inverse genomics approach. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2001;98:130–5.PubMedCrossRef

33.

Roldan G, Delgado L, Muse IM. Tumoral expression of BRCA1, estrogen receptor alpha and ID4 protein in patients with sporadic breast cancer. Cancer Biol Ther. 2006;5:505–10.PubMed

34.

de Candia P, Akram M, Benezra R, Brogi E. Id4 messenger RNA and estrogen receptor expression: inverse correlation in human normal breast epithelium and carcinoma. Hum Pathol. 2006;37:1032–1041.PubMedCrossRef

35.

Miyoshi Y, Iwao K, Ikeda N, Egawa C, Noguchi S. Acceleration of chromosomal instability of BRCA1-associated hereditary breast cancers by p53 abnormality. Breast J. 2002;8:77–80.PubMedCrossRef

36.

Turner NC, Reis-Filho JS. Basal-like breast cancer and the BRCA1 phenotype. Oncogene. 2006;25:5846–53.PubMedCrossRef

37.

Rouzier R, Perou CM, Symmans WF, Ibrahim N, Cristofanilli M, Anderson K, Hess KR, Stec J, Ayers M, Wagner P, Morandi P, Fan C, Rabiul I, Ross JS, Hortobagyi GN, Pusztai L. Breast cancer molecular subtypes respond differently to preoperative chemotherapy. Clin Cancer Res. 2005;11(16):5678–85.PubMedCrossRef

38.

Carey LA, Dees EC, Sawyer L, Gatti L, Moore DT, Collichio F, Ollila DW, Sartor CI, Graham ML, Perou CM. The triple negative paradox: primary tumor chemosensitivity of breast cancer subtypes. Clin Cancer Res. 2007;13:2329–34.PubMedCrossRef

39.

Kennedy RD, Quinn JE, Mullan PB, Johnston PG, Harkin DP. The role of BRCA1 in the cellular response to chemotherapy. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2004;96:1659–68.PubMedCrossRef

40.

Bhargava R, Gerald WL, Li AR, Pan Q, Lal P, Ladanyi M, Chen B. EGFR gene amplification in breast cancer: correlation with epidermal growth factor receptor mRNA and protein expression and HER2 status and absence of EGFR-activating mutations. Mod Pathol. 2005;18:1027–33.PubMedCrossRef

41.

Reis-Filho JS, Milanezi F, Carvalho S, Simpson PT, Steele D, Savage KLambros MB, Pereira EM, Nesland JM, Lakhani SR, Schmitt FC. Metaplastic breast carcinomas exhibit EGFR, but not HER2, gene amplification and overexpression: immunohistochemical and chromogenic in situ hybridization analysis. Breast Cancer Res. 2005;7:R1028–35.PubMedCrossRef

42.

Umemura S, Takekoshi S, Suzuki Y, Saitoh Y, Tokuda Y, Osamura RY. Estrogen receptor-negative and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer tissue have the highest Ki-67 labeling index and EGFR expression: gene amplification does not contribute to EGFR expression. Oncol Rep. 2005;14:337–43.PubMed

43.

Paez JG, Janne PA, Lee JC, Tracy S, Greulich H, Gabriel S, Herman P, Kaye FJ, Lindeman N, Boggon TJ, Naoki K, Sasaki H, Fujii Y, Eck MJ, Sellers WR, Johnson BE, Meyerson M. EGFR mutations in lung cancer: correlation with clinical response to gefitinib therapy. Science. 2004;304:1497–500.PubMedCrossRef

44.

Sasaki H, Endo K, Konishi A, Takada M, Kawahara M, Iuchi K, Matsumura A, Okumura M, Tanaka H, Kawaguchi T, Shimizu T, Takeuchi H, Yano M, Fukai I, Fujii Y. EGFR Mutation status in Japanese lung cancer patients: genotyping analysis using LightCycler. Clin Cancer Res. 2005;11:2924–9.PubMedCrossRef

45.

Fujiwara Y, Kiura K, Toyooka S, Takigawa N, Tokumo M, Hotta K, Aoe M, Tabata M, Matsuo K, Date H, Tanimoto M. Relationship between epidermal growth factor receptor gene mutations and the severity of adverse events by gefitinib in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Lung Cancer. 2006;52:99–103.PubMedCrossRef

46.

Finn RS, Dering J, Ginther C, Wilson CA, Glaspy P, Tchekmedyian N, Slamon DJ. Dasatinib, an orally active small molecule inhibitor of both the src and abl kinases, selectively inhibits growth of basal-type/“triple-negative” breast cancer cell lines growing in vitro. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2007;105:319–26. doi:10.1007/s10549–006-9463-x.PubMedCrossRef

47.

Chow LQ, Eckhardt SG. Sunitinib: from rational design to clinical efficacy. J Clin Oncol. 2007;25:884–96.PubMedCrossRef

48.

Longo R, Torino F, Gasparini G. Targeted therapy of breast cancer. Curr Pharm Des. 2007;13:497–517.PubMedCrossRef

49.

Schneider BP, Sledge GW Jr. Drug insight VEGF as a therapeutic target for breast cancer. Nat Clin Pract Oncol. 2007;4(3):181–9.PubMedCrossRef

50.

Moyano JV, Evans JR, Chen F, Lu M, Werner ME, Yehiely F, Diaz LK, Turbin D, Karaca G, Wiley E, Nielsen TO, Perou CM, Cryns VL. AlphaB-crystallin is a novel oncoprotein that predicts poor clinical outcome in breast cancer. J Clin Invest. 2006;116(1):30–2.

Title: Basal-like subtype of breast cancer: a review of its unique characteristics and their clinical significance
Author: Shunzo Kobayashi
Publication date: 01-04-2008
Publisher: Springer Japan
Published in: Breast Cancer / Issue 2/2008
Print ISSN: 1340-6868
Electronic ISSN: 1880-4233
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12282-008-0034-3

Webinar | 19-02-2024 | 17:30 (CET)

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on antibody–drug conjugates in cancer

Watch now

Antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) are novel agents that have shown promise across multiple tumor types. Explore the current landscape of ADCs in breast and lung cancer with our experts, and gain insights into the mechanism of action, key clinical trials data, existing challenges, and future directions.

Dr. Véronique Diéras

Prof. Fabrice Barlesi

Developed by: Springer Medicine

ACC 2024 Congress

Springer Medicine

Abstract

Please log in to get access to this content

Other articles of this Issue 2/2008

Screening ultrasonography revealed 15% of mammographically occult breast cancers

Two cases of occult breast cancer in which PET-CT was helpful in identifying primary tumors

A case of malignant eccrine spiradenoma metastatic to intramammary lymph node

Determining the morphological features of breast cancer and predicting the effects of neoadjuvant chemotherapy via diagnostic breast imaging

Individualization of breast cancer based on histopathological features and molecular alterations

Breast cancer: individualized diagnosis for tailored treatment

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on antibody–drug conjugates in cancer