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Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy
Published in: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy 11/2020

01-11-2020 | Breast Cancer | Original Article

Clinicopathological factors associated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte reactivity in breast cancer

Authors: Heejae Lee, Young-Ae Kim, Youngho Kim, Hye Seon Park, Jeong-Han Seo, Hyun Lee, Gyungyub Gong, Hee Jin Lee

Published in: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy | Issue 11/2020

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Abstract

Background

The clinical significance of adoptive tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy has been demonstrated in many clinical trials. We analyzed the in vitro reactivity of cultured TILs against autologous breast cancer cells.

Methods

TILs and cancer cells were cultured from 31 breast tumor tissues. Reactivity of TILs against cancer cells was determined by measuring secreted interferon-gamma. Expression levels of epithelial markers, major histocompatibility complex molecules, and programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in cancer cells, and T cell markers (memory, T cell activation and exhaustion, and regulatory T cell markers) in expanded TILs were analyzed and compared between the reactive and non-reactive groups.

Results

In seven cases, TILs showed reactivity to autologous cancer cells. Six of these cases were associated with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). All reactive TNBCs were derived from surgical specimens after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). Higher expression of Ki67 in tumor tissues and lower expression of PD-L1 in cultured cancer cells were associated with reactivity. Proliferation of reactive TILs was high. High proportions of T cells and PD-1+CD4+ and PD1+CD8+ T cells were associated with reactivity in TNBC cases, while other activation or exhaustion markers were not.

Conclusion

TILs from approximately half the TNBC cases with NAC showed reactivity against autologous cancer cells. The proportion of PD-1+ T cells was higher in the reactive group. Adoptive TIL therapy combined with PD-1 inhibitors might be promising for TNBC patients with residual tumors after NAC.
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Metadata
Title
Clinicopathological factors associated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte reactivity in breast cancer
Authors
Heejae Lee
Young-Ae Kim
Youngho Kim
Hye Seon Park
Jeong-Han Seo
Hyun Lee
Gyungyub Gong
Hee Jin Lee
Publication date
01-11-2020
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy / Issue 11/2020
Print ISSN: 0340-7004
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0851
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-020-02633-5

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