Objective: To identify the clinicopathological features of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).
Methods: There were 38 TNBC patients with complete records available who were admitted to our hospital over a 4-year period. Their clinical data that included the general conditions， pathological features， molecular markers， recurrence and metastasis were retrospectively analyzed and were compared with those of non-TNBC patients admitted during the same period.
Results: In the TNBC and non-TNBC patients， the cases less than 35 years old accounted for 21.05% and 5.14%， respectively (P＜0.05). The patients with lymph nodes metastases accounted for 60.53% (23/38) of the TNBC patients， which was higher than that of the non-TNBC patients (43.49%， 127/292) (P＜0.05). Tumors of histological grade III were found in 52.63% (20/38) of the TNBC patients， which was higher than that of the non-TNBC patients (35.27%， 103/292) (P＜0.05). Peritumoral vascular invasion occurred in 31.58% (12/38) of TNBC patients， which was higher than that of the non-TNBC patients (15.41%， 45/292) (P＜0.05). The positive rate of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)， and the abnormal expression rate of E-cadherin were 81.58% (31/38)， 78.95% (30/38) and 65.79% (25/38)， respectively， in the TNBC patients， all which were higher than those in the non-TNBC patients ［39.73% (116/292)， 61.30% (179/292) and 48.29% (141/292)］ (all P＜0.05). The distant metastasis rate was 23.68% (9/38) in the TNBC patients and 11.99% (35/292) in the non-TNBC patients， respectively， and that was statistically different (P＜0.05).
Conclusions: TNBC usually occurs in young people， and has a higher metastasis rate and poor prognosis.