Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC)
What is triple-negative breast cancer?
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is invasive breast cancer that:
does not have receptors for the hormone estrogen (called estrogen receptor-negative)
does not have receptors for the hormone progesterone (called progesterone receptor-negative)
does not have higher than normal levels of the protein HER2 (called HER2-negative)
Triple-negative breast cancers don’t respond to hormonal therapy medicines or the medicines that target the HER2 protein.
Triple-negative breast cancer represents 10% to 15% of breast cancers overall.
Who gets triple-negative breast cancer?
Anyone can develop triple-negative breast cancer, but the cancer tends to be more common in women who:
are younger than 40
are Black
have a BRCA1 mutation
According to the American Cancer Society, Black women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer than white women.
A 2024 study found that triple-negative breast cancer has unique risk factors compared to other types of breast cancer, including:
having a family history of breast cancer
using birth control pills for more than 10 years
having higher breast density
Features and symptoms of triple-negative breast cancer
Triple-negative breast cancer is usually more aggressive, harder to treat, and more likely to come back (recur) than cancers that are hormone receptor-positive or HER2-positive.
The symptoms, staging, and survivorship care for triple-negative breast cancer are the same as for other invasive breast cancers: invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC).
Treatments for triple-negative breast cancer
Treatments for triple-negative breast cancer may include:
Surgery: Depending on the characteristics of the cancer, including size, grade, and stage, your doctor may recommend a mastectomy or lumpectomy to remove the cancer.
Radiation therapy: If you have lumpectomy, it’s common to have radiation therapy after surgery. If you have a mastectomy, your doctor may or may not recommend radiation, depending on the characteristics of the cancer.
Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy uses one or more medicines to slow or stop the growth of cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be given before surgery, which is called neoadjuvant chemotherapy, or after surgery, which is called adjuvant chemotherapy.
Targeted therapy: Trodelvy (chemical name: sacituzumab govitecan-hziy) targets the Trop-2 protein, which is found in about 80% of breast cancers.
Immunotherapy: Immunotherapy medicines stimulate your body’s immune system to attack cancer cells. Keytruda (chemical name: pembrolizumab) is used to treat early-stage triple-negative disease with a high risk of recurrence, as well as PD-L1-positive metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.
If triple-negative breast cancer is metastatic and has a BRCA mutation, your doctor may recommend treatment with a PARP inhibitor, such as Talzenna (chemical name: talazoparib) or Lynparza (chemical name: olaparib).
Listen to the episode of The Breastcancer.org Podcast featuring Dr. Hope Rugo explaining the results of the KEYNOTE-355 trial, which found that adding Keytruda to chemotherapy improved survival for people with metastatic triple-negative disease.
Keytruda Added to Chemotherapy Improves Overall Survival for Metastatic PD-L1-Positive, Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Sep 24, 2021Research on treatments for triple-negative breast cancer
There are many research studies looking for new and better treatments for triple-negative breast cancer, including new types of chemotherapy medicines and new immunotherapy medicines.
Scientists at several different institutions are also working on a vaccine for triple-negative breast cancer. At the Cleveland Clinic, Drs. G. Thomas Budd and Justin Johnson are working on three, small, early studies on a vaccine aimed at preventing triple-negative breast cancer in people.
Listen to the episode of The Breastcancer.org Podcast featuring Drs. Budd and Johnson explaining how a breast cancer vaccine could work.
Listen to the episode of The Breastcancer.org Podcast featuring Dr. Johnson giving an update on the three vaccine studies.
— Last updated on April 3, 2025 at 5:32 PM
