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Zhu Y, Tzoras E, Matikas A, Bergh J, Valachis A, Zerdes I, Foukakis T. Expression patterns and prognostic implications of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes dynamics in early breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Oncol 2022; 12:999843. [PMID: 36531050 PMCID: PMC9749788 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2022.999843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 11/14/2022] [Indexed: 08/06/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE High levels of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are associated with better outcomes in early breast cancer and higher pathological response rates to neoadjuvant chemotherapy especially in the triple-negative (TNBC) and HER2+ subtypes. However, the dynamic changes in TILs levels after neoadjuvant treatment (NAT) are less studied. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the patterns and role of TILs dynamics change in early breast cancer patients receiving NAT. METHODS Medline, Embase, Web of Science Core Collection and PubMed Central databases were searched for eligible studies. Data were extracted independently by two researchers and discordances were resolved by a third. Pooled TILs rates pre- & post-treatment (overall and per subtype), pooled rates of ΔTILs and direction of change after NAT as well as correlation of ΔTILs with survival outcomes were generated in the outcome analysis. RESULTS Of 2116 identified entries, 34 studies fulfilled the criteria and provided adequate data for the outcomes of interest. A decreased level of TILs was observed after NAT in paired samples across all subtypes. The effect of NAT on TILs was most prominent in TNBC subtype with a substantial change, either increase or decrease, in 79.3% (95% CI 61.7-92.6%) of the patients as well as in HER2+ disease (14.4% increased vs 46.2% decreased). An increase in ΔTILs in TNBC was associated with better disease-free/relapse-free survival in pooled analysis (univariate HR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.37-0.95, p = 0.03). CONCLUSION This meta-analysis illustrates the TILs dynamics during NAT for breast cancer and indicates prognostic implications of ΔTILs in TNBC. The potential clinical utility of the longitudinal assessment of TILs during neoadjuvant therapy warrants further validation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yajing Zhu
- Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Evangelos Tzoras
- Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Alexios Matikas
- Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Breast Center, Theme Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jonas Bergh
- Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Breast Center, Theme Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Antonios Valachis
- Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
| | - Ioannis Zerdes
- Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Breast Center, Theme Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Theodoros Foukakis
- Department of Oncology-Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Breast Center, Theme Cancer, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
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Kilmartin D, O’Loughlin M, Andreu X, Bagó-Horváth Z, Bianchi S, Chmielik E, Cserni G, Figueiredo P, Floris G, Foschini MP, Kovács A, Heikkilä P, Kulka J, Laenkholm AV, Liepniece-Karele I, Marchiò C, Provenzano E, Regitnig P, Reiner A, Ryška A, Sapino A, Specht Stovgaard E, Quinn C, Zolota V, Webber M, Roshan D, Glynn SA, Callagy G. Intra-Tumour Heterogeneity Is One of the Main Sources of Inter-Observer Variation in Scoring Stromal Tumour Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:cancers13174410. [PMID: 34503219 PMCID: PMC8431498 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13174410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Stromal tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) are a strong prognostic marker in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). Consistency scoring sTILs is good and was excellent when an internet-based scoring aid developed by the TIL-WG was used to score cases in a reproducibility study. This study aimed to evaluate the reproducibility of sTILs assessment using this scoring aid in cases from routine practice and to explore the potential of the tool to overcome variability in scoring. Twenty-three breast pathologists scored sTILs in digitized slides of 49 TNBC biopsies using the scoring aid. Subsequently, fields of view (FOV) from each case were selected by one pathologist and scored by the group using the tool. Inter-observer agreement was good for absolute sTILs (ICC 0.634, 95% CI 0.539-0.735, p < 0.001) but was poor to fair using binary cutpoints. sTILs heterogeneity was the main contributor to disagreement. When pathologists scored the same FOV from each case, inter-observer agreement was excellent for absolute sTILs (ICC 0.798, 95% CI 0.727-0.864, p < 0.001) and good for the 20% (ICC 0.657, 95% CI 0.561-0.756, p < 0.001) and 40% (ICC 0.644, 95% CI 0.546-0.745, p < 0.001) cutpoints. However, there was a wide range of scores for many cases. Reproducibility scoring sTILs is good when the scoring aid is used. Heterogeneity is the main contributor to variance and will need to be overcome for analytic validity to be achieved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darren Kilmartin
- Discipline of Pathology, Lambe Institute for Translational Research, School of Medicine, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland; (D.K.); (M.O.); (M.W.); (S.A.G.)
| | - Mark O’Loughlin
- Discipline of Pathology, Lambe Institute for Translational Research, School of Medicine, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland; (D.K.); (M.O.); (M.W.); (S.A.G.)
| | - Xavier Andreu
- UDIAT-Centre Diagnòstic, Pathology Department, Institut Universitari Parc Taulí-UAB, Parc Taulí, 1, 08205 Sabadell, Spain;
| | - Zsuzsanna Bagó-Horváth
- Department of Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna, Austria;
| | - Simonetta Bianchi
- Division of Pathological Anatomy, Department of Health Sciences, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy;
| | - Ewa Chmielik
- Tumor Pathology Department, Maria Sklodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Gliwice Branch, 44-102 Gliwice, Poland;
| | - Gábor Cserni
- Department of Pathology, Bács-Kiskun County Teaching Hospital, 6000 Kecskemét, Hungary;
| | - Paulo Figueiredo
- Laboratório de Anatomia Patológica, Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, 3000-075 Coimbra, Portugal;
| | - Giuseppe Floris
- Laboratory of Translational Cell and Tissue Research, Department of Imaging and Pathology, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium;
| | - Maria Pia Foschini
- Unit of Anatomic Pathology, Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bellaria Hospital, 40139 Bologna, Italy;
| | - Anikó Kovács
- Department of Clinical Pathology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, 41345 Gothenburg, Sweden;
| | - Päivi Heikkilä
- Department of Pathology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, 00029 Helsinki, Finland;
| | - Janina Kulka
- 2nd Department of Pathology, Semmelweis University Budapest, Üllői út 93, 1091 Budapest, Hungary;
| | - Anne-Vibeke Laenkholm
- Department of Surgical Pathology, Zealand University Hospital, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark;
| | | | - Caterina Marchiò
- Unit of Pathology, Candiolo Cancer Institute FPO-IRCCS, 10060 Candiolo, Italy; (C.M.); (A.S.)
- Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
| | - Elena Provenzano
- Department of Histopathology, Cambridge University Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK;
- National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Peter Regitnig
- Diagnostic and Research Institute of Pathology, Medical University of Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria;
| | - Angelika Reiner
- Department of Pathology, Klinikum Donaustadt, 1090 Vienna, Austria;
| | - Aleš Ryška
- The Fingerland Department of Pathology, Charles University Medical Faculty and University Hospital, 50003 Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic;
| | - Anna Sapino
- Unit of Pathology, Candiolo Cancer Institute FPO-IRCCS, 10060 Candiolo, Italy; (C.M.); (A.S.)
- Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, 10126 Turin, Italy
| | | | - Cecily Quinn
- Irish National Breast Screening Programme, BreastCheck, St. Vincent’s University Hospital, D04 T6F4 Dublin, Ireland;
- School of Medicine, University College Dublin, D04 V1W8 Dublin, Ireland
| | - Vasiliki Zolota
- Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, 26504 Rion, Greece;
| | - Mark Webber
- Discipline of Pathology, Lambe Institute for Translational Research, School of Medicine, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland; (D.K.); (M.O.); (M.W.); (S.A.G.)
| | - Davood Roshan
- School of Mathematics, Statistics and Applied Mathematics, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland;
| | - Sharon A. Glynn
- Discipline of Pathology, Lambe Institute for Translational Research, School of Medicine, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland; (D.K.); (M.O.); (M.W.); (S.A.G.)
| | - Grace Callagy
- Discipline of Pathology, Lambe Institute for Translational Research, School of Medicine, National University of Ireland Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland; (D.K.); (M.O.); (M.W.); (S.A.G.)
- Correspondence:
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