Today, March 3rd is Triple Negative Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Many people, myself included before I received a breast cancer diagnosis, don’t realise that there are many different kinds of breast cancer. People are probably more aware of the hormone receptor cancers where there are numerous types of treatment beyond chemotherapy, such as hormone therapy treatments, used to slow down or stop the growth of cancer and help to prevent reoccurrence by targeting those receptors.

But triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) need different types of treatments because they are estrogen receptor-negative, progesterone receptor-negative, and HER2-negative. Medicines like tamoxifen, which targets the estrogen receptor, and trastuzumab (Herceptin), which targets HER2, are not helpful in treating triple-negative breast cancer. Instead, chemotherapy has been shown to be the most effective treatment for triple-negative breast cancer.

According to Healthline.com, TNBC has a high recurrence rate, which is greatest within the first 3 years. However, there’s a sharp reduction in recurrence after 5 years. Therefore, there are no long post-therapy regimens. People with early-stage TNBC generally have a shorter treatment course compared to other subtypes. Women with early-stage, slow-growing estrogen receptor-positive cancer are often in treatment for many years.

Check out The TNBC Foundation to find out more about TNBC, living with TNBC, forums, helplines, and to read personal stories.

Purchase your FEARLESS. item today to support cancer research. TNBC grows rapidly. It also has a higher grade and tends to metastasize (spread). Wouldn’t it be amazing if together, we can help to find more ways to treat this type of cancer and eventually find a cure!