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Microglandular adenosis: a prime suspect in triple‐negative breast cancer development
Author(s) -
Tsang Julia YS,
Tse Gary MK
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the journal of pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.964
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1096-9896
pISSN - 0022-3417
DOI - 10.1002/path.4726
Subject(s) - triple negative breast cancer , breast cancer , pathology , pathological , medicine , cancer
Microglandular adenosis ( MGA ) and atypical MGA ( AMGA ) are unusual lesions of the breast. They were once regarded as benign proliferative lesions and innocent bystanders. Several lines of evidence suggested that they could be neoplastic, clonal lesions and a non‐obligate precursor for triple‐negative breast cancers ( TNBC ). Recent work published in The Journal of Pathology by Guerini‐Rocco and colleagues provided further evidence regarding the precursor–product relationship between MGA / AMGA and TNBC . Using a massively parallel sequencing approach, they demonstrated that MGA / AMGA , particularly those associated with TNBC , could be clonal neoplastic lesions showing clonal non‐synonymous mutations, but none in pure MGA . Importantly, those alterations were observed in the associated TNBC . They were also able to identify recurrent alterations in TP53 in those MGA / AMGA cases as well as their associated TNBC . The findings, in conjunction with others, underscore the significance for MGA in clinical diagnosis. The potential of a benign lesion to progress into an aggressive malignant tumour implies that modification of the current management approach may be necessary. Copyright © 2016 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.