Oncotarget

Research Papers:

Evaluation of the prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in triple-negative breast cancers

Tian Tian, Miao Ruan, Wentao Yang and Ruohong Shui _

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Oncotarget. 2016; 7:44395-44405. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.10054

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Abstract

Tian Tian1,2, Miao Ruan1,2, Wentao Yang1,2, Ruohong Shui1,2

1Department of Pathology, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China

2Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Correspondence to:

Ruohong Shui, email: [email protected]

Keywords: tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, breast cancer, triple-negative, prognostic factor, survival

Received: February 14, 2016     Accepted: June 01, 2016     Published: June 15, 2016

ABSTRACT

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) may be associated with clinical outcome in triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs). However, lacking of standardized methodologies in TILs evaluation has hindered its application in clinical practice. To evaluate the prognostic role of TILs scored by methods recommended by International TILs Working Group 2014, we performed a retrospective study of TILs in 425 primary invasive TNBCs in a Chinese population with a median follow-up of 4 years. Intratumoral TILs (iTILs) and stromal TILs (sTILs) were scored respectively. The associations between TILs and disease-free survival (DFS), distant disease-free survival (DDFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated with COX models. ITILs were not associated with prognosis. Higher sTILs were associated with better prognosis; for every 10% increase in sTILs, a 5% reduction of risk of recurrence or death (P < 0.001), 5% reduction of risk of distant recurrence (P < 0.001), and 4% reduction of risk of death (P = 0.002) were observed. Multivariate analysis confirmed sTILs to be an independent prognostic marker. 3.5% of TNBCs had more than 50% lymphocytes (lymphocyte-predominant breast cancer, LPBC), and associations between LPBC status and prognosis were observed but did not reach statistical significance. TNBCs with more than 20% sTILs had a significantly better prognosis than the patients with no more than 20% sTILs. In conclusion, our study indicated that sTILs scored by methods recommended by International TILs Working Group 2014 were associated with the prognosis of TNBCs. STILs could be an independent prognostic biomarker in TNBCs, increasing sTILs predicting better prognosis.


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