2019 Fall Conference

Understanding Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Knowing breast cancer basics can help you understand how triple negative breast cancer is different from other types of breast cancer. The type of breast cancer is determined by the presence or absence of receptors, proteins that live inside or on the surface of a cell and bind to something in the body to cause the cell to react. You may have heard of the estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Triple negative breast cancer lacks all three of these receptors which is how it gets it's name.