Breast Cancer Agents: Treatment & Prevention

The heterogeneous disease Breast Cancer (BC) is an ancient disease which was noted 3500 years ago by ancient Egyptians [1] .The heterogeneity, including intratumor heterogeneity and intertumor heterogeneity, is influenced by genetic and nongenetic factors. Furthermore, BC is the most common malignant tumor and the second leading cause of cancer death in women. Because BC is a heterogeneous disease, no single therapy is sufficient to treat all patients. In order to assess prognosis and determine the appropriate therapies for BC patients, many criteria like patient age, axillary lymph node status, tumor size, histological grade and lymphovascular invasion, hormone receptor status, and HER2 status have been used to categorize the disease. Based on recent molecular techniques, particularly gene expression profiling and immunohistology, BC can be classified into four major types: estrogen and progesterone receptor positive luminal A and luminal B, HER2 and basal-like/ triple negative BC [2]. If BC is diagnosed early, women have better prospects for survival. However, most women diagnosed with this disease will undergo systemic or local therapies to treat the disease. The therapies involve