{"entity":{"id":"paper-atchley-brca-status-triple-negative-jco-2008","kind":"paper","name":"Clinical and pathologic characteristics of patients with BRCA-positive and BRCA-negative breast cancer","aka":[],"tldr":"A 2008 MD Anderson series showing that 57 percent of breast cancers in BRCA1 carriers were triple-negative against 14 percent in women without a BRCA fault, the clinical number behind the rule that triple-negative diagnosis should prompt a genetic test.","summary":"Atchley, Albarracin, Lopez, Valero and colleagues examined tumour pathology and clinical characteristics in 491 women with breast cancer who had genetic testing for BRCA mutations between 1997 and 2006; 391 were BRCA-negative and 86 BRCA-positive. Triple-negative breast cancer was diagnosed in 57.1 percent of BRCA1-positive patients, 23.3 percent of BRCA2-positive patients and 13.8 percent of BRCA-negative patients. BRCA1 carriers had higher nuclear grade tumours (p<0.001), and among triple-negative patients BRCA2 carriers were older at diagnosis than BRCA1 carriers and non-carriers (p<0.01). The authors suggest BRCA1-associated tumours divide into triple-negative and non-triple-negative groups.","asOf":"2026-09-24","links":[{"label":"J Clin Oncol 2008","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2008.16.6231"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18779615/"}],"tags":["tnbc-evidence"],"related":[],"cancers":["tnbc"],"sections":[],"technologies":["germline-testing"],"targets":["brca"],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["md-anderson"],"pathways":[],"terms":["germline-testing"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-hereditary-risk"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["jco"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Journal of Clinical Oncology","year":2008,"doi":"10.1200/JCO.2008.16.6231","pmid":"18779615","authors":"Atchley DP, Albarracin CT, Lopez A, et al.","paperType":"observational","findings":["Triple-negative disease in 57.1 percent of BRCA1 carriers, 23.3 percent of BRCA2 carriers and 13.8 percent of non-carriers.","BRCA1 carriers had higher nuclear grade tumours (p<0.001)."],"whatItMeans":"Turned the laboratory link between BRCA1 and basal-like biology into a clinical rule: a triple-negative diagnosis is itself a reason to offer germline testing, now embedded in NICE, NCCN and ESMO criteria.","caveats":["Single-centre series of women referred for genetic testing, so enrichment for hereditary disease is expected.","Retrospective record review."],"changedPractice":true,"participants":491},"route":"/key-papers/paper-atchley-brca-status-triple-negative-jco-2008/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"tnbc","kind":"cancer","name":"Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)","route":"/cancers/tnbc/"}],"technology":[{"id":"germline-testing","kind":"technology","name":"Germline (hereditary) testing","route":"/technologies/germline-testing/"}],"target":[{"id":"brca","kind":"target","name":"BRCA1 / BRCA2 (HRD)","route":"/targets/brca/"}],"institution":[{"id":"md-anderson","kind":"institution","name":"MD Anderson Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/md-anderson/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-hereditary-risk","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Inherited risk is mostly unidentified","route":"/bottlenecks/b-hereditary-risk/"}],"journal":[{"id":"jco","kind":"journal","name":"Journal of Clinical Oncology","route":"/journals/jco/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"tnbc-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Triple-negative breast cancer roadmap: from a remainder defined by three negative tests to immunotherapy, antibody-drug conjugates and the residual disease problem","route":"/roadmaps/tnbc-roadmap/"}],"idea":[{"id":"idea-tnbc-uk-trial-access-and-germline-testing-audit","kind":"idea","name":"A UK audit of trial access and germline testing uptake in triple-negative breast cancer","route":"/ideas/idea-tnbc-uk-trial-access-and-germline-testing-audit/"}]}}