Lofterod T, et al. - Given that high triglycerides and low levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol have been seen to promote tumor growth, researchers investigated if breast cancer heterogeneity can explain the inconsistent effect of triglycerides and cholesterol seen on breast cancer prognosis. They assessed the links between pre-diagnostic lipids and breast cancer recurrence, mortality, and survival by breast cancer subtypes in a population-based survival study performed on breast cancer cases. They reported three times higher overall mortality for triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients in the highest tertile of triglycerides vs TNBC patients in the lowest tertile. For TNBC patients in the highest vs lowest tertile of triglycerides, they found the 5-year overall survival to be 19% lower. Overall, with respect to prognostic outcome in triple negative breast cancer patients, unique information may be offered independently by pre-diagnostic triglycerides and the HDL-cholesterol/total-cholesterol ratio.