Basal-like carcinoma

The basal-like carcinoma is a recently proposed subtype of breast cancer defined by its gene expression and protein expression profile.^[1] In the current WHO breast tumor classification, these tumors are classified as ductal carcinoma. They are high grade, "triple-negative" tumors, i.e. they express no estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor or Her2/neu proteins.

Basal-like carcinomas tend to be more aggressive, with a poor prognosis. In the U.S., they are more frequent among black women, which may explain the higher breast cancer mortality rate in this group.

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