While these features mean cancer grows fast, it also means that it has many treatment options.
It responds to both hormone treatments and targeted treatments against HER2.
Triple-negative breast cancers have the lowest survival rate of all breast cancer subtypes.
Isaac Lane Koval/Corbis/VCG / Getty Images
The article also covers how many people survive triple-positive breast cancer and how likely it is to return.
Isaac Lane Koval/Corbis/VCG / Getty Images
What Is Triple Positive Breast Cancer?
Triple-positive is one of the many subtypes of breast cancer.
The subtypes are defined by their molecular characteristicsthe proteins they make and the genes they express.
The two main proteins that define a subtype are the hormone receptors and the HER2 protein.
Cancer cells with hormone receptors are typically slow growing and respond well to treatments that block the hormone signals.
HER2
HER2 is a growth-promoting protein expressed by some breast cancers.
About 15% to 25% of breast cancers make a lot of HER2.
HER2-positive breast cancers grow and spread quickly, but there are treatments targeted at them.
These treatments give people with HER2-positive cancers more options.
Triple-positive breast cancers fall under the HR-positive/HER2-positive subtype, a heterogeneous group of cancers.
They also have worse outcomes.
Triple-positive breast cancer falls under the HR-positive/HER2-positive category because it’s HR-positive and HER2-positive.
However, the outlook for triple-positive breast cancer is better than it is for triple-negative breast cancer.
There is not a lot of specific data on triple-positive breast cancer prognosis.
In a small study of people with triple-positive breast cancers, 5.9% died within 33 months of diagnosis.
Generally, HR-positive cancers have a better prognosis because they respond to hormone therapies.
They also typically grow slower than HR-negative cancers.
While they may recur, this normally does not happen for many years after treatment.
According to NCI data, the five-year relative survival rate for HR-positive/HER2-positive female breast cancer is 90.7%.
HR-positive/HER2-positive, which includes triple-positive breast cancers, have the second-best survival pattern.
HR-negative/HER2-positive cancers have worse survival rates, and HR-negative/HER2-negative (triple-negative) have the worst.
On the other hand, HER2-positive/ER-negative cancers typically come back before five years.
Surgery can also involve removing and testing lymph nodes in the chest for cancer.
HER2 therapy targets cells that express high levels of the HER2 protein.
Therapies that specifically target HER2 include monoclonal antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, and kinase inhibitors.
Examples include:
Antibody-drug conjugates are anti-cancer drugs glued to antibodies targeting HER2.
They find the cancer cells using HER2, block the HER2 signal, and drop off deadly drugs.
Examples include:
Kinase inhibitors block the signals that the HER2 protein uses to tell the cells to grow.
Examples include:
In addition to HER2 therapies, triple-positive cancers may respond to hormone therapy.
These drugs stop or block hormones from reaching the cancer cells.
They may stop your body from making hormones or binding to the cancer cells' receptors.
These halt the growth signals that the hormones are sending to cancer.
SERMs include:
Selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) can turn down the estrogen signals throughout the body.
Examples include:
Aromatase inhibitors turn down the body’s production of estrogen.
They are only for post-menopausal people.
However, it did increase survival for people with the HER2-enriched subtype.
There is still debate about how effective HER2 or hormone therapies are against triple-positive breast cancers.
They may prolong survival, even if they are less effective.
Other HER2 treatments may work better than trastuzumab.
How to Improve Outlook
Breast cancer is most treatableand curablewhen it’s caught early.
They make up a small portion of all breast cancers.
A Word From Verywell
Any diagnosis of breast cancer is distressing.
Chemotherapy is often used to treat triple-positive breast cancer, especially at stage 2 or 3.
It can be used before surgery or after.
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