• Residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy in triple-negative breast cancer: the decision point: When triple-negative breast cancer is still present at surgery after pre-operative chemotherapy and pembrolizumab, the amount left (the residual cancer burden) is what decides the next treatment: a year of olaparib for inherited BRCA carriers, capecitabine for others, pembrolizumab to complete the year, and trials of antibody-drug conjugates for everyone else.
• Triple-negative breast cancer trials open today (registry snapshot and UK sites): Every phase 2 or 3 drug trial that was recruiting, about to open or still running for triple-negative breast cancer on ClinicalTrials.gov in September 2026, with the hospitals in the United Kingdom that take part named where the registry lists them.
• Health disparities in cancer outcomes (ethnicity, deprivation and access): Health disparities are differences in who gets a cancer and who survives it that track ethnicity, income and access to care rather than chance.
• Residual cancer burden (RCB): A pathology score for how much cancer remains in the breast and lymph nodes after pre-surgery treatment, from 0 (none) to III (a large amount), combining tumour bed size, cellularity and nodal involvement.
• Homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) in breast cancer: Homologous recombination deficiency means a tumour cannot mend double-strand DNA breaks properly, most often because BRCA1 or BRCA2 is lost.
• PD-L1 combined positive score 10 in triple-negative breast cancer: In metastatic triple-negative breast cancer the immunotherapy pembrolizumab is only given when a PD-L1 stain of the tumour scores 10 or more on the combined positive score, because that is the group in which the trial showed people lived longer.
• ER and PR negative under 1 percent (the triple-negative threshold, and ER-low): A breast cancer counts as oestrogen receptor negative when fewer than 1 in 100 of its cells stain for the receptor, and the same rule applies to progesterone receptor.
• Invasive disease-free survival (iDFS): Invasive disease-free survival is the yardstick of most trials that treat early breast cancer after surgery.
• Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs): Immune cells that have got inside the tumour.
• Germline BRCA testing criteria for triple-negative breast cancer (UK): In the NHS a blood test for inherited BRCA1 and BRCA2 faults is offered to every woman under 50 with triple-negative breast cancer, whatever her family history, and hospital testing criteria now extend that to triple-negative disease under 60 and any breast cancer under 40.

Biomarker results to ask for: Oestrogen and progesterone receptor under 1 percent and HER2 0 to 1+, or 2+ without amplification, Germline BRCA1, BRCA2 and PALB2 (olaparib eligibility, surgical choices), Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (prognostic, de-escalation trials), Pathological complete response and residual cancer burden at surgery, PD-L1 (not required for pembrolizumab in early disease), Circulating tumour DNA after surgery (investigational).

Scans and tests linked to this cancer: Germline (hereditary) testing, MRD / molecular residual disease testing.

Bring copies of scan reports, pathology and blood results, and a list of every medicine and supplement.

• Stage I, tumours 2 cm or less without node involvement: Surgery with sentinel node biopsy and radiotherapy; chemotherapy for tumours over 1 cm, often omitted below that, with tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes guiding de-escalation trials. (Lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery), Sentinel lymph node biopsy, Hypofractionated radiotherapy, Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs))
• Stage II to III, before surgery: Pembrolizumab with carboplatin and paclitaxel, then with doxorubicin or epirubicin and cyclophosphamide, followed by surgery (KEYNOTE-522). (Pembrolizumab, Carboplatin, Paclitaxel / nab-paclitaxel, Doxorubicin, Epirubicin, Cyclophosphamide, KEYNOTE-522, Immune checkpoint inhibitors)
• After surgery, pathological complete response: Pembrolizumab to complete a year and radiotherapy by stage; omission of adjuvant pembrolizumab is under test (OptimICE-pCR). (Pembrolizumab, Pathologic complete response (pCR), OptimICE-pCR (A012103))
• After surgery, residual disease: Pembrolizumab to complete a year; olaparib for one year in germline BRCA carriers (OlympiA); capecitabine for six to eight cycles otherwise (CREATE-X); sacituzumab govitecan with pembrolizumab under study (ASCENT-05). (Pembrolizumab, Olaparib, OlympiA, Capecitabine, Residual cancer burden (RCB), ASCENT-05 / OptimICE-RD (AFT-65, GBG 119, NSABP B-63), Germline (hereditary) testing)
• Local therapy: Breast conservation with whole-breast radiotherapy or mastectomy, sentinel node biopsy after neoadjuvant therapy, and post-mastectomy radiotherapy for node-positive disease. (Lumpectomy (breast-conserving surgery), Mastectomy, Sentinel lymph node biopsy, IMRT / IGRT (modern external beam))

From the standard of care recorded for this cancer; which apply depends on your stage and biomarkers. Ask which the team recommends and why.