Abstract
Metaplastic breast carcinoma (MBC) is a special histological type of invasive breast cancer. MBC is a descriptive and operational term for a heterogeneous collection of tumours with distinct histologies, clinical behaviours and potentially responses to therapy.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Relevant articles
Open Access articles citing this article.
-
Nitrogen isotopic composition as a gauge of tumor cell anabolism-to-catabolism ratio
Scientific Reports Open Access 13 November 2023
-
Rare subtypes of triple negative breast cancer: Current understanding and future directions
npj Breast Cancer Open Access 23 June 2023
-
Sonographic and pathological features of metaplastic squamous cell carcinoma of the breast: a case series
BMC Surgery Open Access 23 October 2021
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Lakhani, S. R., et al. WHO Classification of Tumours of the Breast, Fourth Edition (IARC, 2012).
Hennessy, B. T. et al. Characterization of a naturally occurring breast cancer subset enriched in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and stem cell characteristics. Cancer Res. 69, 4116–4124 (2009).
Lien, H. C. et al. p53 overexpression and mutation in metaplastic carcinoma of the breast: genetic evidence for a monoclonal origin of both the carcinomatous and the heterogeneous sarcomatous components. J. Pathol. 204, 131–139 (2004).
Weigelt, B., Kreike, B. & Reis-Filho, J. S. Metaplastic breast carcinomas are basal-like breast cancers: a genomic profiling analysis. Breast Cancer Res. Treat. 117, 273–280 (2009).
Ince, T. A. et al. Transformation of different human breast epithelial cell types leads to distinct tumor phenotypes. Cancer Cell 12, 160–170 (2007).
Molyneux, G. et al. BRCA1 basal-like breast cancers originate from luminal epithelial progenitors and not from basal stem cells. Cell Stem Cell 7, 403–417 (2010).
Liu, X. et al. Somatic loss of BRCA1 and p53 in mice induces mammary tumors with features of human BRCA1-mutated basal-like breast cancer. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 104, 12111–12116 (2007).
Hayes, M. J., Thomas, D., Emmons, A., Giordano, T. J. & Kleer, C. G. Genetic changes of Wnt pathway genes are common events in metaplastic carcinomas of the breast. Clin. Cancer Res. 14, 4038–4044 (2008).
Lacroix-Triki, M. et al. β-catenin/Wnt signalling pathway in fibromatosis, metaplastic carcinomas and phyllodes tumours of the breast. Mod. Pathol. 23, 1438–1448 (2010).
Geyer, F. C. et al. Molecular analysis reveals a genetic basis for the phenotypic diversity of metaplastic breast carcinomas. J. Pathol. 220, 562–573 (2010).
Reis-Filho, J. S. et al. EGFR amplification and lack of activating mutations in metaplastic breast carcinomas. J. Pathol. 209, 445–453 (2006).
Turner, N. C. et al. BRCA1 dysfunction in sporadic basal-like breast cancer. Oncogene 26, 2126–2132 (2007).
Sproul, D. et al. Transcriptionally repressed genes become aberrantly methylated and distinguish tumors of different lineages in breast cancer. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 4364–4369 (2011).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
PowerPoint slides
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weigelt, B., Eberle, C., Cowell, C. et al. Metaplastic breast carcinoma: more than a special type. Nat Rev Cancer 14, 147–148 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3637
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3637
This article is cited by
-
Nitrogen isotopic composition as a gauge of tumor cell anabolism-to-catabolism ratio
Scientific Reports (2023)
-
Rare subtypes of triple negative breast cancer: Current understanding and future directions
npj Breast Cancer (2023)
-
Genomic characterization and tumor evolution in paired samples of metaplastic breast carcinoma
Modern Pathology (2022)
-
Sonographic and pathological features of metaplastic squamous cell carcinoma of the breast: a case series
BMC Surgery (2021)
-
TERT promoter hotspot mutations and gene amplification in metaplastic breast cancer
npj Breast Cancer (2021)