Treating "Triple Negative" Breast Cancer ATLANTA, GA (WABE) - (See the bottom of this story for more information on the 2nd Annual Jean Sindab Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Symposium" held Friday, May 15th, as well as more information on Karen Neely's "Triple Pink Foundation.")


In a lab at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute, a pair of small, clear, square containers house equally clear liquid inside. The two hug the surface of a machine that continually and rhythmically shakes their contents.

"I'm Ruth O'Reagan. I'm Associate Professor of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute."

Amid the beakers and bottles and lab coats, O'Reagan is working to better understand a somewhat rare and aggressive breast cancer called "Triple Negative."

"One of the issues with triple negative breast cancers is we don't have any targeted treatments " meaning, effective anti-cancer drugs.

Doctors generally treat breast cancer based on the type of cancer cell. Most breast cancer drugs work because they specifically target and attack a particular type of cancer.

But triple negative cancer is called that because it doesn't have any of the right parts current anti-cancer drugs use to attack the cancerous cell.

For unknown reasons, O'Reagan says some women are more likely to get triple negative than others.

"We've found that they occur at a two-fold incidence in African-American populations compared to white patients."

Many of those women are young. Women like Karen Neely.

"So as I was performing my breast exam, I found a lump. I knew immediately it was a lump, there was no question in my mind."

That was three years ago. She was 34 with a family history of breast cancer. Young and African-American, she fit the profile. Neely soon learned hers was a case of triple negative. Like many, she went to the Internet for information.

"There was a consistent story, and the consistent story was not a good one. It was a poor prognosis."

Treatment was harsh. Chemotherapy. Radiation. Surgery. And compared to other forms of breast cancer, the survival rate low. Neely decided if she were to beat it, she had to find the positive stories out there.

"They were rare, but there were a couple of good statistics that I did find out there so I focused on those as I was going through my treatment."

Most of the good statistics that Neely found came due to early detection. She's completed treatment, and now regularly sees Dr. O'Reagan. Both are optimistic, but O'Reagan admits Neely is the exception, not the rule.

"Some triple negative breast cancers respond very well to chemotherapy, like Karen's did. But others that unfortunately do not. And the majority of triple negative breast cancers do not respond very well to chemotherapy, which is another reason why they have a poor prognosis."

Emory's O'Reagan says she and other researchers are working on drugs and other treatments that will target triple negative. In the mean time, Karen Neely gets closer to a very important date--July 6th, 2011. That's five years from her diagnosis, and when doctors will consider her "cured." Neely offers this advice to other young women:

"If nothing else, that young lady can get up every morning and perform one self breast exam, and it's not going to cost her anything."

It could, as in her case, save a life.

"I'm cancer free!"

Jim Burress, WABE News.


More information on the 2nd Annual Jean Sindab Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Symposium is available at: http://www.imedex.com/email/live/5642.html

Karen Neely's Triple Pink Foundation is online at: http://triplepink.org/main © Copyright 2012, WABE