Implications of high tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in HER2-positive and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

AbstractThe level of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) in triple-negative (TNBC) and HER2-positive breast cancers convey prognostic information. The importance of systemic immunity to local immunity is unknown in breast cancer. We previously demonstrated that histological alterations in axillary lymph nodes (LNs) carry clinical relevance. Here, we capture local immune responses by scoring TILs at the primary tumor and systemic immune responses by recording the formation of secondary follicles, also known as germinal centers, in 2,857 cancer-free and involved axillary LNs on haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained sections from a retrospective cohort of 161 LN-positive triple-negative and HER2-positive breast cancer patients. Our data demonstrate that the number of germinal center formations across all cancer-free LNs, similar to high levels of TILs, is associated with a good prognosis in low TILs TNBC. This highlights the importance of assessing both primary and LN immune responses for prognostication and for future breast cancer research.

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Biomolecular Factors Represented by Bcl-2, p53, and Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Predict Response for Adjuvant Anthracycline Chemotherapy in Patients with Early Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Cancer Management and Research ◽

10.2147/cmar.s274104 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol Volume 12 ◽

pp. 11965-11971

Author(s):

Xenia Elena Bacinschi ◽

Anca Zgura ◽

Inga Safta ◽

Rodica Anghel

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽

Triple Negative ◽

Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes ◽

Infiltrating Lymphocytes ◽

Anthracycline Chemotherapy

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Tumor microenvironment in triple-negative breast cancer: the correlation of tumor-associated macrophages and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes

Clinical & Translational Oncology ◽

10.1007/s12094-021-02652-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

H. Kuroda ◽

T. Jamiyan ◽

R. Yamaguchi ◽

A. Kakumoto ◽

A. Abe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Breast Cancer ◽

T Cells ◽

Tumor Microenvironment ◽

Triple Negative Breast Cancer ◽

Triple Negative ◽

Cytotoxic T Cells ◽

Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes ◽

Tumor Associated Macrophages ◽

Free Survival ◽

Infiltrating Lymphocytes

Abstract Purpose Immune cells such as cytotoxic T cells, helper T cells, B cells or tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) contribute to the anti-tumor response or pro-tumorigenic effect in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). The interrelation of TAMs, T and B tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in TNBC has not been fully elucidated. Methods We evaluated the association of tumor-associated macrophages, T and B TILs in TNBC. Results TNBCs with a high CD68+, CD163+ TAMs and low CD4+, CD8+, CD20+ TILs had a significantly shorter relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) than those with low CD68+, CD163+ TAMs and high CD4+, CD8+, CD20+ TILs. TNBCs with high CD68+ TAMs/low CD8+ TILs showed a significantly shorter RFS and OS and a significantly poorer prognosis than those with high CD68+ TAMs/high CD8+ TILs, low CD68+ TAMs/high CD8+ TILs, and low CD68+/low CD8+. TNBCs with high CD163+ TAMs/low CD8+, low CD20 + TILs showed a significantly shorter RFS and OS and a significantly poorer prognosis than those with high CD163+ TAMs/high CD8+ TILs and high CD163+ TAMs /high CD20+ TILs. Conclusions Our study suggests that TAMs further create an optimal tumor microenvironment (TME) for growth and invasion of cancer cells when evasion of immunoreactions due to T and B TILs occurs. In TNBCs, all these events combine to affect prognosis. The process of TME is highly complex in TNBCs and for an improved understanding, larger validation studies are necessary to confirm these findings.

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