Unraveling complexity and leveraging opportunities in uncommon breast cancer subtypes

Fresia Pareja; Rohit Bhargava; Virginia F Borges; Edi Brogi; Rita Canas Marques; Fatima Cardoso; Christine Desmedt; Malini Harigopal; Sunil R Lakhani; Adrian Lee; Jose Pablo Leone; Hannah Linden; Christopher J Lord; Caterina Marchio; Sofia D Merajver; Emad Rakha; Jorge S Reis-Filho; Andrea Richardson; Elinor Sawyer; Pepper Schedin; Christopher J Schwartz; Andrew Tutt; Naoto T Ueno; Anne Vincent-Salomon; Britta Weigelt; Y Hannah Wen; Stuart J Schnitt; Steffi Oesterreich

doi:10.1038/s41523-025-00719-w

Unraveling complexity and leveraging opportunities in uncommon breast cancer subtypes

NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025 Jan 24;11(1):6. doi: 10.1038/s41523-025-00719-w.

Authors

Fresia Pareja¹, Rohit Bhargava², Virginia F Borges³, Edi Brogi⁴, Rita Canas Marques⁵, Fatima Cardoso⁶, Christine Desmedt⁷, Malini Harigopal⁸, Sunil R Lakhani⁹, Adrian Lee^{10

11}, Jose Pablo Leone¹², Hannah Linden¹³, Christopher J Lord¹⁴, Caterina Marchio^{15

16}, Sofia D Merajver¹⁷, Emad Rakha¹⁸, Jorge S Reis-Filho^{4

19}, Andrea Richardson²⁰, Elinor Sawyer²¹, Pepper Schedin²², Christopher J Schwartz⁴, Andrew Tutt¹⁴, Naoto T Ueno²³, Anne Vincent-Salomon²⁴, Britta Weigelt⁴, Y Hannah Wen⁴, Stuart J Schnitt²⁵, Steffi Oesterreich^{26

27}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA. parejaf@mskcc.org.
² Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³ Division of Medical Oncology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA.
⁴ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
⁵ Department of Pathology, Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁶ Breast Unit, Champalimaud Clinical Centre/Champalimaud Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁷ Laboratory for Translational Breast Cancer Research, Department of Oncology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
⁸ Department of Pathology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
⁹ UQ Centre for Clinical Research, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland, and Pathology Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
¹⁰ Women's Cancer Research Center, Magee-Womens Research Institute, UPMC Hillmann Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹² Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
¹³ Division of Hematology and Oncology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center/University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁴ The Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, UK.
¹⁵ Candiolo Cancer Institute, FPO - IRCCS, Candiolo, Turin, Italy.
¹⁶ Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
¹⁷ Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Evaluation Program, Department of Internal Medicine, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham, UK.
¹⁹ AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK.
²⁰ Department of Pathology, John Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
²¹ School of Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, Guy's Cancer Centre, King's College London, London, UK.
²² Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
²³ Breast Medical Oncology, University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, USA.
²⁴ Department of Pathology, Curie Institute, Paris Sciences Lettres University, Paris, France.
²⁵ Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. sschnitt@bwh.harvard.edu.
²⁶ Women's Cancer Research Center, Magee-Womens Research Institute, UPMC Hillmann Cancer Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. oesterreichs@upmbc.edu.
²⁷ Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. oesterreichs@upmbc.edu.

Abstract

Special histologic subtypes of breast cancer (BC) exhibit unique phenotypes and molecular profiles with diagnostic and therapeutic implications, often differing in behavior and clinical trajectory from common BC forms. Novel methodologies, such as artificial intelligence may improve classification. Genetic predisposition plays roles in a subset of cases. Uncommon BC presentations like male, inflammatory and pregnancy-related BC pose challenges. Emerging therapeutic strategies targeting genetic alterations or immune microenvironment are being explored.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

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