Narrative review of progress in pathological diagnosis of breast cancer

Breast cancer (BC) contains a spectrum of diseases with distinctive presentations, morphology, biology, and clinical phenotypes. BC varies significantly in its biological behaviour and response to treatment. Combination of the traditional histopathological with the molecular types of BC allows more accurate prediction of its biological and clinical heterogeneity. We aim to provide a review of the latest advances in breast pathological detection and related biomarkers.

We reviewed English publications in PubMed related to progress in pathological diagnosis of breast cancer from 2000 to 2022.

This review outlines the latest advances in breast pathological detection and related biomarkers, include histological types, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), estrogen receptor (ER), Ki67, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. The histological types and molecular pathological markers of BC are closely related to its treatment and prognosis. The 5th edition World Health Organization (WHO) classification of Breast tumours more emphasis on the clinical significance of histological types. The consensus on the testing of biomarkers for BC has also become more precise, not only suggesting that the primary and metastases of BC be detected for the expressions of ER, PR, and HER2, but also introducing the concept of ER and HER2 low-expressions. In addition, the Ki67 proliferation index plays an important role in the expected therapeutic effect. With the gradual rise of immunotherapy, treatments based on programmed death protein-1/programmed death protein-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) immune checkpoint inhibitors have achieved some results in clinical efficacy for BC, while studies related to tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are gradually gaining more attention.

With the deep and continued research of BC, these discoveries will demonstrate significant clinical application value in the future.