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Published in: Virchows Archiv 4/2020

01-04-2020 | Breast Cancer | Original Article

CD73 expression and pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer

Authors: Bruna Cerbelli, Andrea Botticelli, Annalinda Pisano, Angelina Pernazza, Domenico Campagna, Alessandro De Luca, Paolo Antonio Ascierto, Maria Gemma Pignataro, Maria Pelullo, Carlo Della Rocca, Paolo Marchetti, Lucio Fortunato, Leopoldo Costarelli, Giulia d’Amati

Published in: Virchows Archiv | Issue 4/2020

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Abstract

The immune system plays a key role in tumor surveillance and escape. Recently, CD73 has been proposed as a prognostic biomarker associated with disease-free survival and overall survival in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). In this study, we investigated the role of both CD73 expression and stromal tumor–infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in predicting the pathologic response of TNBC to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). We retrospectively analyzed CD73 immunohistochemical expression and stromal TILs on 61 consecutive biopsies from patients who received standard NACT. Twenty-three patients (38%) achieved pathologic complete response (pCR). TILs were present in the majority of biopsies (93%) with percentages ranging from 2 to 80%. High TILs (≥ 50%) were found in 30% of cases, and in this group, pCR was achieved in 76.5% of cases. Levels of TILs were associated with a better pathologic response only at univariate analysis (p = 0.037). The median value of CD73 expression on tumor cells was 40%. In 32 (52.5%) basal biopsies, CD73 expression was below or equal to median value (“low CD73”). A pCR was obtained in 53% of cases with “low CD73” and in 21% with high CD73, and this was statistically different both at univariate (p = 0.011) and multivariate (p = 0.014) analysis.
Our results suggest that CD73 expression better predicts the response to NACT than TILs in TNBC. Characterization of both TILs and microenvironment could be a promising approach to personalize treatment.
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Metadata
Title
CD73 expression and pathologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in triple negative breast cancer
Authors
Bruna Cerbelli
Andrea Botticelli
Annalinda Pisano
Angelina Pernazza
Domenico Campagna
Alessandro De Luca
Paolo Antonio Ascierto
Maria Gemma Pignataro
Maria Pelullo
Carlo Della Rocca
Paolo Marchetti
Lucio Fortunato
Leopoldo Costarelli
Giulia d’Amati
Publication date
01-04-2020
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Virchows Archiv / Issue 4/2020
Print ISSN: 0945-6317
Electronic ISSN: 1432-2307
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-019-02722-6

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