1. Tumor-Infiltrating γδ T Lymphocytes Predict Clinical Outcome in Human Breast Cancer
- Author
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Mark A. Varvares, Chunling Ma, Qunyuan Zhang, Jian Ye, Pamela Hunborg, Guangyong Peng, Yanping Zhang, Daniel F. Hoft, Theresa Schwartz, Eddy C. Hsueh, Fang Wang, and Eric Wevers
- Subjects
Adult ,CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes ,Oncology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,medicine.medical_treatment ,T cell ,Immunology ,Breast Neoplasms ,CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes ,Article ,Disease-Free Survival ,Breast cancer ,Antigen ,Cell Movement ,T-Lymphocyte Subsets ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,Immunology and Allergy ,Survival rate ,Aged ,Neoplasm Staging ,Aged, 80 and over ,business.industry ,Cancer ,FOXP3 ,Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta ,Immunotherapy ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Immunohistochemistry ,Survival Rate ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Female ,business ,Biomarkers ,CD8 - Abstract
Understanding and dissecting the role of different subsets of regulatory tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in the immunopathogenesis of individual cancer is a challenge for anti-tumor immunotherapy. High levels of γδ regulatory T cells have been discovered in breast TILs. However, the clinical relevance of these intratumoral γδ T cells is unknown. In this study, γδ T cell populations were analyzed by performing immunohistochemical staining in primary breast cancer tissues from patients with different stages of cancer progression. Retrospective multivariate analyses of the correlations between γδ T cell levels and other prognostic factors and clinical outcomes were completed. We found that γδ T cell infiltration and accumulation in breast tumor sites was a general feature in breast cancer patients. Intratumoral γδ T cell numbers were positively correlated with advanced tumor stages, HER2 expression status, and high lymph node metastasis but inversely correlated with relapse-free survival and overall survival of breast cancer patients. Multivariate and univariate analyses of tumor-infiltrating γδ T cells and other prognostic factors further suggested that intratumoral γδ T cells represented the most significant independent prognostic factor for assessing severity of breast cancer compared with the other known factors. Intratumoral γδ T cells were positively correlated with FOXP3+ cells and CD4+ T cells but negatively correlated with CD8+ T cells in breast cancer tissues. These findings suggest that intratumoral γδ T cells may serve as a valuable and independent prognostic biomarker, as well as a potential therapeutic target for human breast cancer.
- Published
- 2012
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