Objective To explore the characters and therapy of the triple-negative breast cancer （TNBC）. Methods The pertinent literatures with key words “triple-negative breast cancer”，“diagnosis”，and “therapy” were retrieved and reviewed. Results TNBC was a subtype of breast cancer characterized by negative expressions of estrogen receptor （ER），progesterone receptor （PR），and human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 （HER-2）. The clinicopathologic feature and prognosis of TNBC were distinct from other breast cancer. The age of onset was younger，disease free survival and total survival rate were lower in the patients with TNBC. At present， the therapy guideline was lack of TNBC，which referred to the non-TNBC，including local surgery，systemic chemotherapy，and the target therapy was at the clinical trial stage. Conclusions TNBC is one of heterogeneity characteristics for the breast cancer，which has extra much difference. For improving the TNBC prognosis，we hope that more and more significant markers to TNBC in the future are found，which are useful to make individuation treatment.
ObjectiveTo explore expression of epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR) in triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC). Method The published articles about expression of EGFR in TNBC according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria from PubMed, Elsevier-Science Direct, and Web of Science databases were retrieved. The meta-analysis was performed with RevMan 5.2 software. ResultsA total of 8 articles were eligible for the meta-analysis. Among them, 1 006 patients in the TNBC group and 2 945 cases in the non-TNBC group. The result of meta-analysis showed that the positive rate of EGFR expression in the TNBC group was significantly higher than that in the non-TNBC group(OR=6.57, 95% CI 3.42-12.61, P < 0.000 01). The result of race subgroup analysis showed that the positive rate of EGFR expression of TNBC patients in Caucasian(OR=8.93, 95% CI 4.16-19.17, P < 0.000 01) or Xanthoderm(OR=2.79, 95% CI 0.99-7.89, P=0.05) was significantly increased as compared with non-TNBC patients. ConclusionThe positive rate of EGFR expression in TNBC patients is higher than that of non-TNBC patients, which might become an important marker of TNBC and an effective therapeutic target.