No one could blame you for having a mountain of questions after receiving abreast cancerdiagnosis.
How is triple negative breast cancer different from other diagnoses?
And how can you make life easier on yourself if you have this illness?
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Here, breast cancer experts answer these and other questions.
What is triple negative breast cancer?
Doctors separate breast cancer into a few main categories based on the presence or absence of these receptors.
If we can block a receptor from being stimulated, then we can block cancer cell growth and spread.
That’s the basis for many of the therapies we use to treat cancer, Dr. Mayer says.
(Some of these are also hormone receptor-positive.)
HER2 is a protein that encourages cancer cells to grow, theACSexplains.
Therapies that target the HER2 protein give a shot to flip off the switch, so to speak.
Doctors test tumors for all three of these receptors when people undergobreast biopsies, according to theMayo Clinic.
Triple-negative breast cancer is considered particularly aggressive.
They have some ideas aboutrisk factorsinvolved, though.
But thats not an issue with triple negative breast cancer, so other factors take center stage.
In general, breast cancer risk rises as you get older, according to theMayo Clinic.
Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes can raise your risk of breast andovarian cancers, according to theCDC.
Likewise, not everyone with this gene mutation gets breast cancer or ovarian cancer, according to theCDC.
Your racial and ethnic background can also increase your odds of developing triple negative breast cancer.
That goes for triple negative breast cancer as well, according to theCDC.
(This tracks, as people in these groups are athigher riskof having BRCA gene mutations.)
Experts are testing immunotherapy options that may attack triple negative breast cancer tumors as well.
Ongoing research could lead to new targeted treatments for triple negative breast cancer, Dr. Nanda says.
They may give you a few ideas for coping, too.
