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Apocrine Breast Cancer: Unique Features of a Predominantly Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
Angeleke Saridakis1,2, Elizabeth R Berger1,2, Malini Harigopal3,2
1Department of Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Annals of Surgical Oncology
|August 24, 2021
Summary
Invasive apocrine carcinoma, a rare breast cancer, presents with aggressive features but has the same survival rate as non-apocrine types. Triple-negative apocrine tumors show better survival than their non-apocrine counterparts.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Pathology
- Genomics
Background:
- Invasive apocrine carcinoma is a rare, often triple-negative breast cancer subtype.
- Limited understanding exists regarding its molecular subtypes and characteristics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the incidence, demographics, and clinicopathologic features of invasive apocrine carcinoma with non-apocrine carcinomas.
- To analyze these features stratified by molecular subtype.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.
- Comparison of clinicopathologic and demographic data (2004-2017).
- Molecular subtype stratification (2010-2017) and survival analysis using the life table method.
Main Results:
- Apocrine cancers presented younger, with larger, higher-grade tumors, and were more frequently triple-negative (50%) or HER2-positive (28%) than non-apocrine cancers.
- Overall 7-year breast cancer-specific survival was 85% for both types.
- Triple-negative apocrine tumors had smaller, lower-grade tumors and better survival (86%) compared to non-apocrine triple-negative cancers (74%).
- Luminal apocrine tumors had larger, higher-grade tumors and worse survival (79%) compared to luminal non-apocrine cancers (89%).
Conclusions:
- Invasive apocrine carcinomas exhibit more aggressive features but share similar overall survival rates with non-apocrine carcinomas.
- Triple-negative apocrine tumors represent half of apocrine cases and possess more favorable characteristics and significantly better survival than non-apocrine triple-negative cancers.
