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Histopathological Evaluation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) as Predictive Biomarker for Hormone Receptors Status, Proliferative Activity and Clinical Outcome in Her-2 Positive Breast Cancer

Authors :
Giuseppe Angelico
Giuseppe Broggi
Rosario Caltabiano
Angela Santoro
Saveria Spadola
Nicoletta D’Alessandris
Giulia Scaglione
Michele Valente
Damiano Arciuolo
Alejandro Martin Sanchez
Gianluca Franceschini
Riccardo Masetti
Antonino Mulè
Gian Franco Zannoni
Source :
Applied Sciences, Vol 11, Iss 15, p 6788 (2021)
Publication Year :
2021
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2021.

Abstract

Background: In the present study, we evaluated the prognostic value of TILs as well their relation with clinicopathological factors in patients affected by HER-2 positive breast cancer. Methods: We evaluated 47 patients with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of invasive breast carcinoma showing an immunohistochemically confirmed (score 3+) amplification of the c-erbB-2 gene for the presence of TILs and categorized in three predefined groups of low (0–10% immune cells in stromal tissue within the tumor), intermediate (11–40%), and high TILs (>40%). Results: Low, intermediate and high TILs were found in 17/47 (36%), 23/47 (49%) and 7/47(15%) cases, respectively. It was found that 6/47 cases treated with adjuvant chemotherapy plus trastuzumab underwent progression of the disease; none of these cases exhibited high TILs. It was found that 12/47 patients with a prognostically unfavorable stage of III and IV showed low and intermediate levels of TILs, while high TILs were never observed. A significant association between intermediate/high-levels of TILs, elevated KI 67 index and hormone receptors nuclear staining was observed. High concordance in TILs distribution was observed between preoperative breast biopsies and surgical samples. Conclusions: We observed a positive correlation between the TILs and the response to both adjuvant and neoadjuvant treatments in HER-2 positive BC. High TILs were also related to increased KI-67 index and to the expression of hormone receptors.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20763417
Volume :
11
Issue :
15
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Applied Sciences
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.9123f0a95c2640949472418bc749c93c
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/app11156788