Basal-like carcinoma

Overview
The basal-like breast carcinoma is a newly proposed subtype of breast cancer defined by its gene expression and protein expression profile. 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 nor 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 mortality rate in this group.