CD8+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes strongly correlate with molecular subtype and clinico-pathological characteristics in breast cancer patients from Sudan

Abstract Background Whether tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) play different roles in different molecular subtypes of breast cancer remains unknown. Additionally, their prognostic and predictive value in different molecular subtypes of breast cancer is still controversial. The aim of our meta-analysis was to assess the prognostic and predictive value of TILs in different molecular subtypes of breast cancer by summarizing all relevant studies performing multivariate analysis. Methods PubMed, Embase, EBSCO, ScienceDirect, the Cochrane Database and Web of Science were comprehensively searched (until March 2020). Hazard ratios (HRs), odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used as effect measures to perform our meta-analysis. A random effect model was used. Stata software, version 15 (2017) (StataCorp, College Station, TX, USA) was used to perform the statistical analysis. Results Thirty-three studies including 18,170 eligible breast cancer patients were analysed. The meta-analysis showed that high TIL expression was significantly associated with increased pathological complete response (pCR) rates after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with the HER2-enriched molecular subtype (OR = 1.137, 95% CI [1.061 ~ 1.218], p < 0.001) and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype (OR = 1.120, 95% CI [1.061 ~ 1.182], p < 0.001). However, high TIL expression was not significantly associated with high pCR rates after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with the luminal molecular subtype of breast cancer (OR = 1.154, 95% CI [0.789 ~ 1.690], p = 0.460). We carried out a meta-analysis on the HRs of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) to assess the prognostic value of TILs in breast cancer with different molecular subtypes more deeply. Our meta-analysis confirmed that high TILs were associated with significantly improved DFS in patients with the HER2-enriched molecular subtype [HR = 0.940, 95% CI (0.903 ~ 0.979), p = 0.003] and TNBC molecular subtype [HR = 0.907, 95% CI (0.862 ~ 0.954), p < 0.001]. However, high TILs were not associated with significantly better DFS in patients with the luminal molecular subtype of breast cancer [HR = 0.998, 95% CI (0.977 ~ 1.019), p = 0.840]. Furthermore, the results confirmed that high TILs were significantly related to better OS in patients with the HER2-enriched molecular subtype [HR = 0.910, 95% CI (0.866 ~ 0.957), p < 0.001] and TNBC molecular subtype [HR = 0.869, 95% CI (0.836 ~ 0.904), p < 0.001]. Conversely, the summarized results indicated that high TILs were significantly associated with poor OS in patients with the luminal molecular subtype of breast cancer [HR = 1.077, 95% CI (1.016 ~ 1.141), p = 0.012]. Conclusions Our meta-analysis confirms that high TILs are associated with favourable survival and predicts pCR in breast cancer patients with the TNBC and HER2-enriched molecular subtypes.

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Expression of PD-1 on CD4+ Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Tumor Microenvironment Associated with Pathological Characteristics of Breast Cancer

Journal of Immunology Research ◽

10.1155/2018/5690258 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Yan-Jie Zhao ◽

Jian Zhang ◽

Feng Shi ◽

Zhi-Ping Hu ◽

Jiang-Ping Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Significant Relationship ◽

Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes ◽

T Cell Subsets ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

Ki 67 ◽

Pathological Characteristics ◽

Cell Counts ◽

Infiltrating Lymphocytes ◽

E Cadherin

Objective. This study aimed to investigate the correlation of CD4+/PD-1+ or CD4+/PD-1− tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes with pathological characteristics in breast cancer patients. Methods. A cross-sectional study consecutively recruited 133 patients with invasive ductal breast cancer. The expression of CD4, programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), CK7, CK20, E-cadherin, or Ki-67 was detected by immunohistochemistry. The associations between CD4+/PD-1+ or CD4+/PD-1− tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and pathological characteristics were evaluated. Results. Elderly patients intended to have a lower level of CD4+/PD-1− tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (p<0.05). Patients with positive E-cadherin expression had higher median cell counts of CD4+/PD-1− tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes than patients with negative E-cadherin expression (30/HPF versus 10/HPF, p<0.05). Counts of CD4+/PD-1+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes had a significant correlation with Ki-67 index that the correlation coefficient was 0.29 (p=0.001). Positive CK20 expression was related to a higher level of CD4+/PD-1− tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes than negative CK20 expression (73/HPF versus 30/HPF, p<0.05). Conclusion. CD4+/PD-1+ or CD4+/PD-1− tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes showed diverse association with pathological features of breast cancer. CD4+/PD-1+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes had a significant relationship with Ki-67 expression whereas CD4+/PD-1− tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes had a significant relationship with E-cadherin expression. Further studies are warranted to explore the immunomodulatory effects of phenotypes of CD4+ T cell subsets in breast cancer.

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Stromal Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (sTILs) as a putative prognostic marker to identify a responsive subset of TNBC in an Indian Breast Cancer Cohort.

10.1101/2020.08.19.20177865 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Pooja Vaid ◽

Anirudha Puntambekar ◽

Rituja Banale ◽

Ruhi Reddy ◽

Rohini Unde ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Cancer Patients ◽

Prognostic Significance ◽

Disease Free Survival ◽

Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes ◽

Response To Therapy ◽

Stromal Tumor ◽

Breast Cancer Patients ◽

Infiltrating Lymphocytes ◽

Disease Free

Objectives Prognostic significance of stromal tumor infiltrating lymphocytes; sTILs is evaluated to identify a responsive subset of TNBC in an Indian cohort of breast cancer patients. Methods A retrospective cohort of breast cancer patients from a single onco-surgeon breast cancer clinic treated with uniform treatment strategy across is evaluated for sTILs. FFPE tissue of primary tumor of invasive breast carcinoma are collected with ethical approvals. Tumor sections blinded for subtypes are stained with H&E and scored for sTILs by a pathologist following Immuno-Oncology TILs working groups scoring guidelines. Results Analysis of 144 primary breast tumors for sTILs scores re-enforces significantly higher infiltration in TNBC tumors than HER2+ve and ER+ve tumors. Higher sTILs scores co-relate with gradually incremental pathological response to therapy specifically in TNBC subset and with better disease-free survival outcomes. Within TNBC, older and post-menopausal patients harbor higher scores of sTILs. Conclusion Despite a small cohort of breast cancer patients, TNBC subtype reflected significantly higher scores of sTILs with better response to therapy and disease-free outcomes as compared to other breast cancer subtypes. A larger number of breast cancer patients from an Indian cohort will strengthen the findings to establish sTILs as a marker to identify a responsive subset of TNBC.

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