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Peritumoral FOXP3+ regulatory T cell is sensitive to chemotherapy while intratumoral FOXP3+ regulatory T cell is prognostic predictor of breast cancer patients

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Abstract

It has been reported that the prognostic significances of tumor-infiltrating FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) in breast carcinoma depend on their relative density and tissue locations. We here assessed the changes of Tregs before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC) and their relationships with tumor response and patient survival. Intratumoral and peritumoral infiltration of FOXP3+ Tregs were evaluated by immunohistochemistry in 132 cases of invasive breast carcinomas before and after NC. After NC, the density of infiltrated Tregs within tumor bed remained stable, whereas it decreased significantly (P = 0.015) in the tissue surrounding tumor. The changes were significant in those tumors that usually response to NC, including the HER2-enriched and basal-like subtypes (P = 0.035; P = 0.004). Univariate and multivariate analyses identified the decreased peritumoral Tregs were an independent predictor for pathologic complete response (pCR), while the intratumoral Tregs after chemotherapy was proved to be associated with overall survival and progression-free survival of the patients. The findings of the study indicated that peritumoral Treg was sensitive to chemotherapy and associated with pCR, while intratumoral Treg was an independent prognostic predictor of breast cancer patients.

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Acknowledgments

Research was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30930038, 81172531), National “973” Program of China (2009CB521700), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT0743), and Innovation Funding for graduate of Tianjin Medical University (2010GSI07).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Breast Cancer Pathology and Research Laboratory, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy (Ministry of Education), Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute & Hospital, Huanhuxi Road, Tiyuanbei, Hexi District, Tianjin, 300060, China

    Fangfang Liu, Yaqing Li, Meijing Ren, Xiaojing Guo, Ronggang Lang, Feng Gu & Li Fu

  2. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Xinmin Zhang

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  1. Fangfang Liu
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  2. Yaqing Li
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  3. Meijing Ren
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  4. Xinmin Zhang
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  5. Xiaojing Guo
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  6. Ronggang Lang
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  7. Feng Gu
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  8. Li Fu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Li Fu.

Additional information

Fangfang Liu, Yaqing Li, Meijing Ren contributed equally to this study.

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Liu, F., Li, Y., Ren, M. et al. Peritumoral FOXP3+ regulatory T cell is sensitive to chemotherapy while intratumoral FOXP3+ regulatory T cell is prognostic predictor of breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Res Treat 135, 459–467 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-012-2132-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-012-2132-3

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