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Kumar R, Abreu C, Toi M, Saini S, Casimiro S, Arora A, Paul AM, Velaga R, Rameshwar P, Lipton A, Gupta S, Costa L. Oncobiology and treatment of breast cancer in young women. Cancer Metastasis Rev 2022; 41:749-770. [PMID: 35488982 DOI: 10.1007/s10555-022-10034-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Female breast cancer emerged as the leading cancer type in terms of incidence globally in 2020. Although mortality due to breast cancer has improved during the past three decades in many countries, this trend has reversed in women less than 40 years since the past decade. From the biological standpoint, there is consensus among experts regarding the clinically relevant definition of breast cancer in young women (BCYW), with an age cut-off of 40 years. The idea that breast cancer is an aging disease has apparently broken in the case of BCYW due to the young onset and an overall poor outcome of BCYW patients. In general, younger patients exhibit a worse prognosis than older pre- and postmenopausal patients due to the aggressive nature of cancer subtypes, a high percentage of cases with advanced stages at diagnosis, and a high risk of relapse and death in younger patients. Because of clinically and biologically unique features of BCYW, it is suspected to represent a distinct biologic entity. It is unclear why BCYW is more aggressive and has an inferior prognosis with factors that contribute to increased incidence. However, unique developmental features, adiposity and immune components of the mammary gland, hormonal interplay and crosstalk with growth factors, and a host of intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors and cellular regulatory interactions are considered to be the major contributing factors. In the present article, we discuss the status of BCYW oncobiology, therapeutic interventions and considerations, current limitations in fully understanding the basis and underlying cause(s) of BCYW, understudied areas of BCYW research, and postulated advances in the coming years for the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rakesh Kumar
- Cancer Research Institute, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Rama Himalayan University, Dehradun, India. .,Cancer Research Program, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Trivandrum, India. .,Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA. .,Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA.
| | - Catarina Abreu
- Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital de Santa Maria- Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Masakazu Toi
- Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Sunil Saini
- Cancer Research Institute, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Rama Himalayan University, Dehradun, India
| | - Sandra Casimiro
- Instituto de Medicina Molecular-João Lobo Antunes, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Anshika Arora
- Cancer Research Institute, Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Swami Rama Himalayan University, Dehradun, India
| | - Aswathy Mary Paul
- Cancer Research Program, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Trivandrum, India
| | - Ravi Velaga
- Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Pranela Rameshwar
- Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Allan Lipton
- Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Penn State University School of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Sudeep Gupta
- Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Centre and Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, India
| | - Luis Costa
- Department of Medical Oncology, Hospital de Santa Maria- Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte, Lisbon, Portugal.,Instituto de Medicina Molecular-João Lobo Antunes, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
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