Journal
JOURNAL OF CANCER
Volume 7, Issue 9, Pages 1095-1104Publisher
IVYSPRING INT PUBL
DOI: 10.7150/jca.13098
Keywords
Circulating tumors cells; adaptive immunity; and inflammatory breast cancer
Categories
Funding
- State of Texas Rare and Aggressive Breast Cancer Research Program
- UICC American Cancer Society International Fellowship for Beginning Investigators Award [ACS/08/006]
- Slovak Grant Agency [VEGA 1/0044/15]
- National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health [CA138239-02]
- NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE [P30CA016672, R01CA138239] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Background: Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) play a crucial role in tumor dissemination and are prognostic in primary and metastatic breast cancer. Peripheral blood (PB) immune cells contribute to an unfavorable microenvironment for CTC survival. This study aimed to correlate CTCs with the PB T-cell immunophenotypes and functions of patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). Methods: This study included 65 IBC patients treated at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. PB was obtained from patients prior to starting a new line of chemotherapy for CTCs enumeration by CellSearch (R), and T cell phenotype and function by flow cytometry; the results were correlated with CTCs and clinical outcome. Results: At least 1 CTC (>= 1) or >= 5 CTCs was detected in 61.5% or 32.3% of patients, respectively. CTC count did not correlate with total lymphocytes; however, patients with = 1 CTC or = 5 CTCs had lower percentages (%) of CD3+ and CD4+ T cells compared with patients with no CTCs or < 5 CTCs, respectively. Patients with = 1 CTC had a lower percentage of T-cell receptor (TCR)-activated CD8+ T cells synthesizing TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma and a higher percentage of T-regulatory lymphocytes compared to patients without CTCs. In multivariate analysis, tumor grade and % CD3+ T-cells were associated with = 1 CTC, whereas = 5 CTC was associated with tumor grade, stage, % CD3+ and % CD4+ T cells, and % TCR-activated CD8 T-cells synthesizing IL-17. Conclusions: IBC patients with CTCs in PB had abnormalities in adaptive immunity that could potentially impact tumor cell dissemination and initiation of the metastatic cascade.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available