Differences in molecular features of triple‐negative breast cancers based on the age at diagnosis

• Published in: Cancer 2018-12, Vol.124 (24), p.4676-4684
• Main Authors: Gulbahce, H. Evin, Bernard, Philip S., Weltzien, Erin K., Factor, Rachel E., Kushi, Lawrence H., Caan, Bette J., Sweeney, Carol
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Age Factors; Age of Onset; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Breast cancer; Cancer; Classification; Confidence intervals; Diagnosis; epidemiology; Epidermal growth factor; ErbB-2 protein; Female; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling - methods; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Gene Regulatory Networks; Genes; Growth factors; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Medical diagnosis; Middle Aged; molecular subtype; Neoplasm Staging; older women; Oncology; Population studies; prognosis; Receptor, ErbB-2 - genetics; Sensitivity; Survival Analysis; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - classification; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - diagnosis; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - genetics; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - pathology
• ISSN: 0008-543X; 1097-0142
• DOI: 10.1002/cncr.31776

Background Although the proportion of triple‐negative breast cancers (TNBCs) diagnosed among older women is low, the number of TNBC cases is substantial because of the high incidence of breast cancer after the age of 65 years. The molecular features of TNBC in this age group have not been well described. Methods This study examined a population‐based cohort of women with stage I to III TNBC diagnosed between the ages of 25 and 91 years with the PAM50 gene expression subtyping assay. The concordance between the TNBC classification by immunohistochemistry and the gene expression classification by PAM50, the expression of individual genes, and 5‐year recurrence and breast cancer mortality in older women (≥65 years old) and younger women (