Advances in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Estrogen receptor-α (ERα)-negative breast cancer is clinically aggressive and does not respond to conventional hormonal therapies. Strategies that lead to re-expression of ERα could sensitize ERα-negative breast cancers to selective ER modulators. FTY720 (fingolimod, Gilenya), a sphingosine analog, is the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved prodrug for treatment of multiple sclerosis that also has anticancer actions that are not yet well understood. We found that FTY720 is phosphorylated in breast cancer cells by nuclear sphingosine kinase 2 and accumulates there...

Breast cancer (BC) is the second most common cause of cancer deaths. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) does not show immunohistochemical expression of oestrogen receptors, progesterone receptors or HER2. At present, no suitable treatment option is available for patients with TNBC. This dearth of effective conventional therapies for the treatment of advanced stage breast cancer has provoked the development of novel strategies for the management of patients with TNBC. This review presents recent information associated with different therapeutic options for the treatment of TNBC focusing on promising targets such as the Notch signalling, Wnt/β-catenin and Hedgehog pathways, in addition to EGFR, PARP1, mTOR, TGF-β and angiogenesis inhibitors...

The experimental monoclonal antibody MPDL3280A extended progression-free survival and produced durable responses in some patients with triple-negative breast cancer, according to preliminary results from a phase I trial.