Abstract
BackgroundImmunoglobulin-like transcript 4 (ILT4) is an inhibitory molecule involved in immune response and has recently been identified to be strongly inducible by IL-10. The aim of the present study was to examine the associations of ILT4 expression with clinicopathological characteristics and IL-10 expression in primary ductal and lobular breast cancer.MethodsWe studied the expression of ILT4 in 4 cancer cell lines, 117 primary tumor tissues and 97 metastatic lymph nodes from patients with primary ductal and lobular breast cancer by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, western blot or immunohistochemistry analysis. Additionally, IL-10 expression was also investigated using immunohistochemistry in primary tumor tissues. Then the relationship between ILT4 expression and clinicopathological characteristics/IL-10 expression was evaluated.ResultsILT4 was highly expressed in all 4 human breast cancer cell lines on both mRNA and protein levels. In primary tumor tissues, ILT4 or IL-10 was expressed in the cell membrane, cytoplasm, or both; the positive rate of ILT4 and IL-10 expression was 60.7% (71/117) and 80.34% (94/117), respectively. ILT4 level was significantly correlated with IL-10 (r =0.577; p < 0.01). Furthermore, the expression of ILT4 or IL-10 was associated with less number of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) (p = 0.004 and 0.018, respectively) and more lymph node metastasis (p = 0.046 and 0.035, respectively).ConclusionOur data demonstrated the association of ILT4 and IL-10 expression in human breast cancer, suggesting their important roles in immune dysfunction and lymph node metastases.Virtual SlidesThe virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1692652692107916
Highlights
Immunoglobulin-like transcript 4 (ILT4) is an inhibitory molecule involved in immune response and has recently been identified to be strongly inducible by IL-10
ILT4 and IL-10 expression in human breast cancer tissues The expression of ILT4 and IL-10 in 117 primary tumor specimens was determined by immunohistochemistry
Both ILT4 and IL-10 positive expression were identified in tumor cell cytoplasm, membrane, or both (Figure 2A-B)
Summary
Immunoglobulin-like transcript 4 (ILT4) is an inhibitory molecule involved in immune response and has recently been identified to be strongly inducible by IL-10. The aim of the present study was to examine the associations of ILT4 expression with clinicopathological characteristics and IL-10 expression in primary ductal and lobular breast cancer. When lacking stimulatory molecules (CD80 and CD86) expression or over-expressing inhibitory molecules (B7H1, B7-H3 and B7-H4) in tumor cells, T-cell is induced to be tolerant or anergic [4,5], which is considered to be associated with immune response escape during cancer development [6,7,8,9]. Studies of co-stimulatory molecules in tumors are critical for understanding mechanisms involving in tumor associated immune response, and helpful for finding new targets of tumor therapy
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