TY - JOUR
T1 - Prognostic value of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes in small HER2-positive breast cancer
AU - Criscitiello, Carmen
AU - Bagnardi, Vincenzo
AU - Pruneri, Giancarlo
AU - Vingiani, Andrea
AU - Esposito, Angela
AU - Rotmensz, Nicole
AU - Curigliano, Giuseppe
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - Background The standard treatment for patients with small, node-negative, human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2)–positive breast cancer (BC) is still controversial. Our aim was to assess the prognostic role of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in patients with stage pT1a–b HER2-positive BC. Patients and methods Haematoxylin and eosin slides from node-negative, pT1a–b HER2-positive BC surgical specimens were retrieved from pathology archives to assess TILs and their association with outcome. Results TILs were evaluated in 205 patients with HER2-positive, pT1a–b tumours, who underwent breast surgery between 1997 and 2009 at the European Institute of Oncology. At a median follow-up of 11 years, we did not observe any association between the presence of TILs, either assessed as a continuous or dichotomous variable (<50 versus ≥ 50%), and outcome. Within the subgroup of patients with pT1a tumours who did not receive any adjuvant therapy (36/97 patients), the rate of disease-free survival events was lower in lymphocyte-predominant BC (LPBC) as compared with non-LPBC patients (p = 0.066). Conclusions TILs cannot be used as a prognostic biomarker in pT1a–b HER2-positive BC. Additional biomarkers are needed for selecting patients with stage I HER2-positive BC who candidate to adjuvant therapy de-escalation.
AB - Background The standard treatment for patients with small, node-negative, human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2)–positive breast cancer (BC) is still controversial. Our aim was to assess the prognostic role of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in patients with stage pT1a–b HER2-positive BC. Patients and methods Haematoxylin and eosin slides from node-negative, pT1a–b HER2-positive BC surgical specimens were retrieved from pathology archives to assess TILs and their association with outcome. Results TILs were evaluated in 205 patients with HER2-positive, pT1a–b tumours, who underwent breast surgery between 1997 and 2009 at the European Institute of Oncology. At a median follow-up of 11 years, we did not observe any association between the presence of TILs, either assessed as a continuous or dichotomous variable (<50 versus ≥ 50%), and outcome. Within the subgroup of patients with pT1a tumours who did not receive any adjuvant therapy (36/97 patients), the rate of disease-free survival events was lower in lymphocyte-predominant BC (LPBC) as compared with non-LPBC patients (p = 0.066). Conclusions TILs cannot be used as a prognostic biomarker in pT1a–b HER2-positive BC. Additional biomarkers are needed for selecting patients with stage I HER2-positive BC who candidate to adjuvant therapy de-escalation.
KW - HER2
KW - Stage pT1a–b breast cancer
KW - Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ejca.2017.10.011
DO - 10.1016/j.ejca.2017.10.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 29154173
AN - SCOPUS:85034058272
VL - 87
SP - 164
EP - 171
JO - European Journal of Cancer
JF - European Journal of Cancer
SN - 0959-8049
ER -