Impact of breast cancer subtypes on local-regional outcomes

Abstract The identification of genomic subtypes of breast cancer nearly 10 years ago provided powerful insight into the genetic heterogeneity of the disease. In the decade since, the concept of tumor biology has been shown to be highly relevant for determining survival outcomes and response to therapy, as well as in explaining variations in the disease noted clinically among women of different ages and races. Establishing tumor subtypes has also driven efforts to identify underlying pathways that drive the biologic phenotype and that can potentially be targeted therapeutically. However, far less is known about the impact of biologic subtypes on local regional outcomes and whether the same subtype specific biologic properties identified in the setting of distant disease can be translated to the local-regional context. In this review, we summarize current research in this area.