Abstract:
Objective To determine the distribution of T-lymphocyte subpopulations in peripheral blood and its relationship with disease-free survival (DFS) of patients with different molecular subtypes of invasive breast cancer (IBC).
Methods Data and plasma samples of 372 female patients with IBC treated at Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital and Institute between January 2008 and August 2009 were obtained.CD4+/CD8+ratio and the amount of regulatory T cells (Treg cells) and natural killer cells (NK cells) were measured through flow cytometry.
Results A total of 133(35.8%), 124(33.3%), 48(12.9%), and 67 cases (18.0%) presented luminal type A, luminal type B, HER-2 over-expression, and triple-negative type breast cancer (TNBC), respectively.In TNBC, a longer DFS was observed when the peripheral CD4+/CD8+ratio was high or when the level of Treg cells was low (CD4+/CD8+P < 0.05 and Treg P < 0.05).However, CD4+/CD8+and Treg are not independent prognostic factors for the DFS of TNBC cases.In other molecular subtypes of breast cancer, CD4+/CD8+ratio and the amount of Treg cells are not correlated with DFS (P>0.05).The level of NK cells is unrelated to the DFS of breast cancer with the four molecular subtypes (P>0.05).
Conclusion CD4+/CD8+ratio and the amount of Treg cells in peripheral blood may predict DFS of TNBC but are not considered as independent prognostic factors.