Maryam Althobiti|Mohammed A. Aleskandarany|Chitra Joseph|Michael S. Toss|Nigel P. Mongan|Maria Diez?Rodriguez|Christopher C. Nolan|Ibraheem Ashankyty|Ian O. Ellis|Andrew Green|Emad A. Rakha
Heterogeneity of tumour?infiltrating lymphocytes in breast cancer and its prognostic significance
University of Nottingham|Nottingham City Hospital|Nottingham City Hospital|University of Nottingham|Nottingham City Hospital|University of Nottingham|Nottingham City Hospital|University of Nottingham|University of Nottingham|Cornell University|Nottingham City Hospital|University of Nottingham|Nottingham City Hospital|University of Nottingham|University of Ha'il|Nottingham City Hospital|University of Nottingham|Nottingham City Hospital|University of Nottingham|Nottingham City Hospital|University of Nottingham
tumourinfiltrating lymphocytes tils breast cancer bc provide prognostic predictive information aim study assess spatial temporal heterogeneity tils bc relationship immune cell subtypesimmunohistochemically defined immune cell subtypes ie expressing tcell markers cd3 cd8 foxp3 bcell marker cd20 histiocytic marker cd68 evaluated large series n 1165 invasive bcs subset fullface haematoxylin eosin hestained slides examined tils heterogeneity within primary tumours corresponding local recurrent carcinomas investigate spatial temporal tils heterogeneity hestained sections multiple tumour blocks three four blocks per case representing different tumour areas evaluated assess tils interslide heterogeneity intraslide heterogeneity average stromal tils avtils hotspot stromal tils hstils assessed avtils showed associations immune cell subtypes however cd3 cells constituted main component mean number cd3 55 whereas cd20 cells constituted smallest component mean number cd20 13 significant statistical difference tils across tumour blocks case p 0251 avtils p 0162 hstils triplenegative breast cancer tnbc showed higher tils percentage bc subtypes p 0001 high avtils cd3 cells cd8 cells cd20 cells associated longer survival tnbc patients p 005 high avtils recurrent tumours showed significant association shorter postrecurrence survival p 0004despite heterogeneity immune cell type components average tils one fullface hestained section reliably represent tils whole tumour tils associated outcome tnbc patients well prognostic significance recurrent tumours