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Updated: Oct 11, 2025

Studying Triple Negative Breast Cancer Using Orthotopic Breast Cancer Model
Published on: March 20, 2020
Autophagy: A promising target for triple negative breast cancers
Yomna S Abd El-Aziz1, Josef Gillson2, Patric J Jansson3
1Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Kolling Institute of Medical Research, St Leonards, NSW, Australia; Oral Pathology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
Abstract:
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive type of breast cancers which constitutes about 15% of all breast cancer cases and characterized by negative expression of hormonal receptors and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). Thus, endocrine and HER2 targeted therapies are not effective toward TNBCs, and they mainly rely on chemotherapy and surgery for treatment. Despite recent advances in chemotherapy, 40% of TNBC patients develop a metastatic relapse and recurrence. Therefore, understanding the molecular profile of TNBC is warranted to identify targets that can be selected for the development of a new and effective therapeutic approach. Autophagy is an internal defensive mechanism that allows the cells to survive under different stressors. It has been well known that autophagy exerts a crucial role in cancer progression. The critical role of autophagy in TNBC progression is emerging in recent years. This review will discuss autophagic pathway, how autophagy affects TNBC progression and recent therapeutic approaches that can target autophagy as a new treatment modality.
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