Objective To study the clinicopathologic characteristics of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and its value in the prediction of prognosis. Method In this study,500 cases of female breast cancers were examined immunohistochcmically for the TNBC. The clinicopathologic characteristics of the 243 TNBC cases were inspected. Results TNBC accounted for 17.6% (88/500) of the 500 breast cancers. The histological types of the TNBC included mainly infihrative ductal carcinoma, metaplastic carcinoma and medullar carcinoma. Among those, histological grade Ⅲ accounted for 72.7% (64/88) of all the TNBC and was more common than that in hormone receptor positive breast cancers (HR+ group ) and Her-2 overexpression breast cancers (Her-2 group)(P=0.000). The positive rates of CK5/6 and EGFR in the TNBC were 30.7% (27/88) and 34.1% (30/88), respectively. The positive rates of ERCC1 and KIT in the TNBC were 28.4% (25/88) and 34.1% (30/88), respectively, Both of which were higher than those in the HR + group and Her-2 group, respectively (P=0.032 and P=0.026). 3-year survival rate of the TNBC was 71.5% and it was lower than that of HR group (P=0.021) and not significantly different from that of Her-2 group (P=0.474). Conclusions TNBC is the breast cancer with high aggressive pathologic futures and poor prognosis. EGFR and ERCC1 expression were positive in a portion of TNBC cases.

Breast Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Ki-67 Antigen ; genetics ; metabolism