Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a term used to describe estrogen receptor (ER) negative, progesterone receptor (PR) negative and HER-2 neu negative breast cancer. It is closely linked to, but not synonymous with 'basal-like' breast cancer defined by gene analysis, and is more common in younger women and younger African American women. Ironically, the clinically aggressive nature of TNT lends itself to useful laboratory features such as relative ease of growth of cell lines and robust animal models for experimentation, so the opportunities to better understand and ultimately affect the outcomes of this subset of breast cancers is vast.