PURPOSE: Inflammation within the
tumor microenvironment has been reported to show an
association with poor
prognosis in
breast cancer . However, the
associations may differ according to
breast cancer subtype. In this study, we investigated the
association between
inflammation -related markers and
breast cancer recurrence according to
patients '
tumor subtypes. MATERIALS AND
METHODS: This
prospective study included 240
patients who underwent
surgery for management of newly diagnosed
breast cancer . Levels of
inflammation -related markers (
interleukin [IL]-1beta,
IL-6 ,
IL-8 ,
monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 [MCP-1],
leptin , and
adiponectin ) were measured at
diagnosis , and the
associations between these markers and
breast cancer recurrence during a six-year follow-up period were examined using the Kaplan-Meier statistical
method .
RESULTS: Overall,
inflammation -related markers showed no
association with
breast cancer recurrence . However, when data were stratified by
tumor subtype, higher levels of some mediators showed an
association with poor
prognosis among
patients with particular subtypes. Compared to
patients without
recurrence ,
patients with
recurrence had higher levels of circulating
IL-6 (p=0.024) and
IL-8 (p=0.016) only among those with HER2-
tumors and had higher levels of
leptin (p=0.034) only among those with
estrogen receptor (ER)+/
progesterone receptor (PR)+
tumors . Results of
survival analyses revealed an
association of high levels of
IL-6 (p=0.016) and
IL-8 (p=0.022) with poor
recurrence -free
survival in
patients with HER2-
tumors . In addition, higher
leptin levels indicated shorter
recurrence -free
survival time only among
patients with ER+/PR+
tumors (p=0.022).
CONCLUSION: We found that certain
cytokines could have a differential prognostic impact on
breast cancer recurrence according to
breast cancer subtype. Conduct of additional large studies
will be required in order to elucidate the precise
roles of these
cytokines in
breast cancer progression.