Abstract 1555: Immune suppression of regulatory T cells and M2 macrophage in breast cancer patients

Abstract

Abstract Background: Recent multi-disciplinary treatments of breast cancer (BC) could decrease the mortality rate, but successful immune therapy remains uncertain. To explore new strategy of immune therapy of BC, we are investigating about host-tumor immune response in BC patients. Materials and methods: Tumor tissue specimens and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were obtained from early and advanced BC patients. PBMC were also collected from healthy volunteers. Regulatory T (Treg) cells were examined by counting CD4+CD25highCD127low/-cells in PBMC with flow cytometry analysis. Immunohistochemical evaluation of tumor specimens was performed with monoclonal antibodies of HLA-ABC and DR, CD56, CD68, CD83, and CD163. The number of stained cells was analyzed using a semiquantitative ordinal scale ranging from 0 to 3 (0, +/-, ++, +++). Results: HLA type I and type II were stained negative in 44% and 82% of 50 BC cases. When host-tumor immune response were compared between 38 early BC cases and 12 advanced BC cases, numbers of CD68-positive cells significantly increased in peripheral tumor tissues of advanced BC cases than in those of early BC cases (92% versus 53%). CD163-positive tumor cells were also detected more frequently in advanced BC cases than in early BC cases (75% versus 16%). There were no significant differences of distribution of CD4, CD8, CD56, and CD83-positive cells in early and advanced BC cases. Treg cells in PBMC significantly increased in percentage of the population in 46 BC patients than in 16 healthy volunteers (3.8% versus 2.1% of CD4-positive cells at mean value). Interestingly, Treg cells decreased in percentage of the population in postoperative BC patients. Conclusions: Our results suggest that Treg cells render BC patients under immune suppression and M2 macrophage plays an important role of tumor progression. Targeted therapy against M2 macrophage traits may be a promising strategy of breast cancer. Host-tumor immune response will be reported for BC patients treated with primary chemotherapy or radiofrequency ablation therapy in comparison with those who underwent breast surgery first. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1555. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-1555