High platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios in triple-negative breast cancer associates with immunosuppressive status of TILs
Hiroko Onagi, Yoshiya Horimoto, Asumi Sakaguchi, Daiki Ikarashi, Naotake Yanagisawa, Takayuki Nakayama, Tetsuya Nakatsura, Yumiko Ishizuka, Ritsuko Sasaki, Junichiro Watanabe, Mitsue Saito, Harumi Saeki, Takuo Hayashi, Atsushi Arakawa, Takashi Yao, Shigehisa Kitano
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Rating lymphocytes (TILs) are a prognostic marker in breast cancer and high TIL infiltration correlates with better patient outcomes. Meanwhile, parameters involving immune cells in peripheral blood have also been established as prognostic markers. High platelet-to-lymphocyte ratios (PLRs) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios (NLRs) are related to poor outcomes in breast cancer, but their mechanisms remain unknown. To date, TILs and these parameters have been examined separately. METHODS: We investigated the relationship between TILs and the peripheral blood markers, PLR and NLR, in the same patients, using surgical specimens from 502 patients with invasive breast carcinoma without preoperative chemotherapy. For analysis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patient outcomes, 59 patients who received preoperative chemotherapy were also examined. For immune cell profiling, multiplexed fluorescent immunohistochemistry (mfIHC) of CD3, CD4, CD8, FOXP3 and T-bet, was conducted. RESULTS: T-cells. TNBC patients had different patterns of outcomes according to TIL and PLR, with the TIL-high/PLR-low group having the lowest rate of disease relapse and death, and the longest distant metastasis-free and overall survivals, while the TIL-low/PLR-high group had the shortest survivals. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that the combination of PLR with TIL assessment may enable more accurate prediction of patient outcomes with TNBC.