ABSTRACT
Background & objectives: Tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) represent the host immune response against cancer cells associated with good or bad prognosis in different tumour types. This study was undertaken to evaluate the significance of CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ TILs in breast cancer tissues in relation to clinico-pathological variables and survival outcome. Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed with antibodies against CD3, CD4 and CD8 antigens on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue sections of 150 breast cancer patients. Intratumoural and stromal TIL counting was performed semiquantitatively. Results: The higher CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ intratumoural and stromal counts showed independent and direct association with good prognosis. The prognostic predictor value of intratumoural counts was higher than stromal counts. The independent associations of intratumoural and stromal counts became more prominent when adjusted with stage and grade, respectively. Among intratumoural counts, the high (++/+++) CD4+ count (OR=3.85, 95% CI=3.28-16.71, P<0.001) showed the highest survival followed by CD3+ (OR=2.70, 95% CI=1.76-8.30, P=0.001) and CD8+ (OR=2.58, 95% CI=1.55-5.86, pP=0.001) the least when compared to respective low (+) counts. In contrast, among stromal counts, the high CD8+ count (OR=3.13, 95% CI=2.20-9.57, pP<0.001) showed the highest survival followed by CD4+ (OR=3.02, 95% CI=2.07-8.89, 0.001) and CD3+ (OR=2.45, 95% CI=1.53-6.73, 0.002) the least. Interpretation & conclusions: Our results suggest that intratumoural CD4+ and stromal CD8+ counts by immunohistochemistry may serve as an independent prognosticator for favourable outcome in breast cancer.
ABSTRACT
Background: Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of CD3+ tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TILs) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Methods: Immunohistochemistry was done with antibodies to CD3 TIL, estrogen receptors (ERs), progesterone receptor (PR) and C-erbB2 in tissue sections of 49 TNBC patients. CD3+ intratumoral and stromal TILs were counted in relation to known clinicopathological factors. Results: Intratumoral CD3+ TILs were significantly associated with stage (p = 0.05) with insignificant association with age, menopausal status, family history, grade and lymph node status. Higher counts of stromal CD3+ TILs were significantly associated with stage (p = 0.05), whereas grade, lymph node status, age, menopausal status and family history were insignificant with CD3+ count. The higher CD3 intratumoral and stromal counts both showed significant association with good prognosis (p 0.05). Conclusion: CD3+ TILs may serve as good prognostic marker in TNBC. The results of present study need further validation on larger sample size.