Breast Cancer Heterogeneity: A Mixture of At Least Two Main Types?

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Abstract
Breast cancers are clinically heterogeneous ( 1 ) . However, breast cancer etiologic heterogeneity is not so well established. Traditionally, breast cancer has been viewed as one biologic entity with common etiology ( 2 ) . Much like the adenoma-to-carcinoma sequence for colorectal cancer ( 3 – 6 ) , breast cancers supposedly result from stochastic molecular changes over long periods. Stepwise molecular alterations are mirrored by histologic progression from normal breast epithelium to atypical hyperplasias to carcinoma in situ to invasive breast cancer ( 7 , 8 ) .