Clinical validity of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes analysis in patients with triple-negative breast cancer

BackgroundAlthough tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been associated with a favorable prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients, this marker is not currently considered robust enough for entering the clinical practice. In the present study, we assessed the clinical validity of the guidelines recently issued by the International TIL Working Group in a large retrospective series of well-annotated TNBC patients.Patients and methodsTILs were evaluated in all the full-face H&E sections from 897 consecutive TNBC (i.e. tumors with <1% of ER and PgR immunoreactivity and absence of HER2 overexpression or amplification) patients diagnosed and treated at the European Institute of Oncology between 1995 and 2010 (median follow-up 8.2 years, range 6 months to 18 years). All mononuclear cells were evaluated in the stromal area within the borders of the invasive tumor, reported as a percentage value and treated as a continuous variable in survival analysis.ResultsThe median percentage of TILs was 20%, and 21.9% of the cases had ≥50% (lymphocyte predominant breast cancer, LPBC) TILs. At univariable survival analysis, TILs were a significant predictor of better disease-free survival (DFS), distant disease-free survival (DDFS) and overall survival (OS) (P < 0.0001). Multivariable analysis confirmed that each 10% increase in TILs strongly predicted better survival, independent of patients' age, lymph node status, tumor size, histological grade, peritumoral vascular invasion and Ki-67 labeling index. Patients with LPBC had a 10-year survival rate of 71%, 84% and 96% for DFS, DDFS and OS, respectively. Stratified analysis revealed a positive correlation between TILs and OS across all the subgroups analyzed.ConclusionOur data support the analytical validity of the recently issued TILs evaluation guidelines in the clinical practice.     

Functional characterization of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, lymph-node lymphocytes and peripheral-blood lymphocytes from patients with breast cancer

Mononuclear cell infiltration is frequently seen within human solid tumors. Effector cells within the tumor site usually fail to exhibit cytotoxic or natural killer activity when freshly isolated; however, they develop potent and sometimes specific cytotoxicity after expansion in IL2. Thus, local tumor environment may influence lymphocyte function. In our study, we disaggregated human breast-cancer and lymph-node tissue to obtain lymphocyte-enriched cell fractions. Besides phenotypic analysis, functional characterization with regard to proliferation and cytokine production of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), peripheral-blood lymphocytes (PBL) and lymph-node lymphocytes (LNL) was the aim of our study. TIL showed an enrichment of CD8+ cells with a corresponding decrease in CD4+ cells in comparison with PBL and LNL. In response to PHA, TIL showed decreased 3H-thymidine uptake, but TIL were significantly stimulated by rhIL2. TIL produced low levels of IL2, TNF and IFN gamma upon mitogen/phorbol ester stimulation, while PBL produce high levels of TNF and IFN gamma but low levels of IL2. Under the same experimental conditions, LNL produce high levels of TNF and IL2 but low levels of IFN gamma. Mitogen-mediated TNF secretion was increased after addition of autologous tumor cells in TIL and LNL, whereas IFN gamma secretion tended to be suppressed. Our results indicate different patterns of activities of TIL, LNL and PBL from breast-cancer patients.     

肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞在三阴性乳腺癌中作用的研究进展

三阴性乳腺癌（TNBC）是一种高度异质性的疾病。因缺乏有效的治疗靶标,故临床预后较差。尽管大量文献报道肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞与TNBC预后之间的关系,但区分不同类型的T淋巴细胞极其重要,因为他们在肿瘤微环境中发挥着不同的作用。此外,有研究发现肿瘤相关巨噬细胞与TNBC预后不良相关。本文将对不同淋巴细胞浸润在TNBC临床预后中的作用作一综述。     

Development of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in breast cancer after neoadjuvant paclitaxel chemotherapy.

PURPOSE: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer creates new possibilities for the analysis of biological factors in the tumor and/or host, which may play a role in the response to treatment. In this study we analyzed whether changes in local antitumor immunity take place after neoadjuvant paclitaxel therapy and if they correlate with response to treatment. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (paclitaxel, 200 mg/m2 q2w, 4 treatments) was followed by definitive surgical management. Histological sections from the pre- and post-treatment surgical specimens of 25 patients were analyzed for the extent of lymphocytic infiltration and presence of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). The cumulative apoptotic response in the tumor after the first dose of paclitaxel was also studied in 10 of 25 patients. RESULTS: Pretreatment lymphocytic infiltrate in the tumor was minimal in the majority of patients and showed no relationship with clinical response. In the patients without TILs before treatment, development of TILs after treatment was noted in 0/3 (0%) patients with stable disease, 3/12 (25%) patients with clinical partial response, and 4/6 (67%) patients with clinical complete response and pathological residual disease. These correlated with the tumor cell apoptotic response to the first dose of paclitaxel. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that development of TILs after treatment correlates with clinical response to neoadjuvant paclitaxel therapy. The possible mechanism(s) whereby neoadjuvant chemotherapy may lead to induction of antitumor T cells is discussed. Immunological processes may influence the response of breast cancer patients to neoadjuvant treatment.     

Clonal analysis of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes from human primary and metastatic liver tumors

Phenotypic and functional characteristics of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) obtained from human primary and metastatic liver tumors were studied. Lymphocytes isolated from 18 tumors and autologous (A) peripheral blood (6 cases) were phenotyped by 2-color flow cytometry and cloned in a limiting dilution system, which allows virtually all normal T lymphocytes to proliferate; 70-80% of fresh TIL were T cells (i.e., CD3+), and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ cells was 1.2 in both primary and metastatic liver tumors. TIL contained significantly more CD56+ (NKHI+) cells, half of which were CD3+CD56+, CD3+CD25+ cells and CD3+HLA-DR+ cells, than A-PBL. The frequencies of proliferating T-cell precursors (PTL-p) and cytolytic T-lymphocyte precursors (CTL-p) reactive with K562, allogeneic tumor cells and autologous tumor cells, were determined. Mean PTL-p frequencies for TIL from hepatocellular carcinomas, cholangiocarcinomas and metastatic liver tumors were 0.52 (0.22-0.83), 0.10 (0.05-0.16) and 0.16 (0.01-0.30), respectively. The frequency of CTL-p with natural-killer-like activity was lower in TIL than in A-PBL. The frequency of CTL-p for autologous tumor cells in fresh TIL isolated from primary liver tumors was 0.02-0.13 and 12/81 clones were reactive against autologous tumor. In contrast, only 1/66 TIL clones obtained from colon carcinomas metastatic to liver showed autotumor reactivity. No clones reactive with autologous tumor were obtained from peripheral blood of patients with liver cancer. These data indicate that substantial differences in anti-tumor functions of TIL between primary and metastatic liver tumors exist, which can be detected at a clonal level.     

Immune reactivities of lymphocytes from peripheral blood, regional lymph nodes and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in breast cancer

Immune reactivities in 174 breast cancer patients were investigated. Immune reactivities were assessed by lymphocyte responsiveness to phytohemagglutinin (PHA), suppressor cell activities, sera-induced suppressor cell activities, NK activities and autologous tumor-killing activities. Low responsiveness of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) to PHA mitogen and an increase in the inductive activity of suppressor cells by sera were observed in breast cancer patients as compared with normal volunteers or patients with benign breast diseases. These impairments of immune reactivities were compared with those of patients with cancer of the digestive tract. Cytotoxicities against both K562 and autologous tumor cells were low or absent in the regional lymph node lymphocytes (LNL). Cytotoxicities against autologous tumor cells were absent in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. The low NK activity of LNL was not due to coexistent suppressor cells but to a lack of active NK cells and/or their precursors. NK activities of LNL were augmented by IL-2 and OK-432, suggesting usefulness for local immune therapy.     

Solid-phase anti-CD3 antibody activation and cryopreservation of human tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes derived from epithelial ovarian cancer.

The effect of solid-phase anti-CD3 antibody activation and cryopreservation was evaluated on thirteen samples of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) derived from epithelial ovarian cancer. Seven preparations of TILs were cultured with or without solid-phase anti-CD3 antibody in addition to 100 units/ml of recombinant interleukin-2 (rIL-2). The proliferation rate of all of the seven TIL preparations stimulated by anti-CD3 antibody on the fourth or fifth day of culture was 3.4 to 9.8 times greater than that of lymphocytes cultured with rIL-2 alone. Furthermore, in an experiment with five TIL samples activated with anti-CD3 antibody, three of them showed augmented cytotoxic activity against autologous fresh tumor cells. The population of CD3+/CD8+ TILs was increased after 4-5 weeks of cultivation and CD8+ lymphocytes amounted to over 70% in all of seven preparations tested, whereas two of seven preparations not activated by anti-CD3 antibody were CD3+/CD4(+)-dominant. In addition, nine preparations of TILs cultured with rIL-2 were cryopreserved for several weeks; after recovery from cryopreservation, no major change was observed in cell surface markers, in growth rate or in cytotoxic activity. These results suggest that cryopreserved and/or anti-CD3 antibody-activated lymphocytes could conveniently be employed in a clinical trial of adoptive immunotherapy employing TIL.     

Comparison of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes of breast cancer in core needle biopsies and resected specimens: a retrospective analysis

Purpose

Few studies evaluated the prognostic value of the presence of lymphovascular invasion (LVI) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for breast cancer (BC).

Methods

The association between LVI and survival was evaluated in a cohort of BC patients treated by NAC between 2002 and 2011. Five post-NAC prognostic scores (ypAJCC, RCB, CPS, CPS + EG and Neo-Bioscore) were evaluated and compared with or without the addition of LVI.

Results

Out of 1033 tumors, LVI was present on surgical specimens in 29.2% and absent in 70.8% of the cases. Post-NAC LVI was associated with impaired disease-free survival (DFS) (HR 2.54; 95% CI 1.96–3.31; P < 0.001), and the magnitude of this effect depended on BC subtype (P_interaction = 0.003), (luminal BC: HR 1.83; P = 0.003; triple negative BC: HR 3.73; P < 0.001; HER2-positive BC: HR 6.21; P < 0.001). Post-NAC LVI was an independent predictor of local relapse, distant metastasis, and overall survival; and increased the accuracy of all five post-NAC prognostic scoring systems.

Conclusions

Post-NAC LVI is a strong independent prognostic factor that: (i) should be systematically reported in pathology reports; (ii) should be used as stratification factor after NAC to propose inclusion in second-line trials or adjuvant treatment; (iii) should be included in post-NAC scoring systems.

     

Properties of recombinant interleukin 2-cultured tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in human lung cancer

It is thought that TIL can be activated in vitro by rIL-2 and acquire specific anti-tumor activity. In this study, we investigated this possibility, using lymphocytes isolated from primary lung cancer tissues. In a first series of experiments, TILs and autologous PBLs from 16 patients were cultured in rIL-2 from 7 to 14 days under identical conditions, and were compared for proliferation (16 cases), cytolytic activity (11 cases), gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) production (8 cases), and phenotypes (10 cases). TILs grew in response to rIL-2 as well as PBLs. However, the induced cytolytic activity of TIL was significantly lower than that of PBL against autologous tumor cells and 2 human tumor cell lines. IL-2-mediated IFN-gamma production by TILs was also significantly lower than that of PBLs. TILs were phenotypically characterized by their high CD4/CD8 ratio and lack of Leu11-positive cells. Further investigations with 7 other cases showed that exogenous addition of IFN-gamma to rIL-2 cultures of TILs enhanced cytolytic activity in 4 cases. Our results indicate that IL-2 alone is sufficient for TILs to proliferate but not to acquire new functions (cytotoxicity and production of IFN-gamma).     

In vitro antitumor activity of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes from human gastric carcinoma

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) isolated from 11 gastric carcinoma were studied. TIL could grow for a long-term in medium containing recombinant interleukin-2(rIL-2). The mean expansion fold achieved in 6 long-term cultures of 11 specimens was 15.1 RIL-2 expanded gastric TIL exhibited significant cytotoxicity against K562, BGC823, MCF-7 and more effective antitumor cytotoxicity against fresh autologous tumor targets and human gastric cancer cell line. Peak cytotoxicity was shown in the third or fourth week after cultures. Cryopreservation of gastric TIL didn’t influence their expansion capacity and antitumor activity. Phenotypic analysis was demonstrated in this study. The results of present study indicate that TIL from human gastric carcinoma could be expanded and reach high levels of antitumor effector function in long-term cultures with rIL-2. Their function may be of clinical importance.     

HER-2阳性乳腺癌中肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞与雄激素受体的相关性研究

  目的  探讨人表皮生长因子受体-2（human epidermal growth factor receptor-2，HER-2）阳性乳腺癌中肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞（tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes，TILs）浸润水平与雄激素受体（androgen receptor，AR）表达的关系。  方法  收集2018年3月至2018年11月天津医科大学肿瘤医院收治的448例HER-2阳性乳腺癌患者的临床资料。病理评估TILs浸润水平，免疫组织化学方法检测AR表达情况，分析TILs浸润水平和AR表达与临床病理学参数的关系以及TILs和AR的相关性。  结果  448例HER-2阳性乳腺癌患者中TILs无浸润或低浸润的患者占38.2%（171/448）、中等浸润者占42.2%（189/448）、高浸润者占19.6%（88/448），AR阳性率为62.7%（281/448）。Spearman等级相关分析显示TILs浸润水平与AR表达呈负相关（r=-0.140，P=0.003）。在雌激素受体（estrogen receptor，ER）阳性乳腺癌中，TILs浸润水平和AR表达密切相关（P=0.009）。  结论  HER-2阳性乳腺中TILs浸润水平和AR表达呈负相关，提示HER-2阳性乳腺癌患者可根据TILs的不同浸润水平与AR的表达行精准治疗。      

肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞在三阴性乳腺癌和HER2阳性乳腺癌中作用的最新研究进展

在乳腺癌的所有亚型中,三阴性乳腺癌（triple-negative breast cancer,TNBC）和人表皮生长因子受体2（human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 ,HER2）阳性型乳腺癌的恶性程度较高,越来越多的证据提示这两种亚型肿瘤病灶中肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞（tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes,TIL）所占百分比越高,患者的预后越好。但TIL并非单一种类细胞,其复杂的内部细胞成分导致在不同亚型乳腺癌患者或接受不同治疗的乳腺癌患者中,发挥的预后预测作用差异较大。本文就TIL的分类,TIL在TNBC、HER2阳性乳腺癌中的作用和TIL相关免疫治疗策略的最新研究进展作一总结。     

肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞比例对乳腺癌新辅助化疗疗效的预测作用

  目的   评价乳腺癌患者行新辅助化疗前穿刺标本中的肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞(tumor infiltrating lymphocytes,TIL)比例与术后病理评估疗效之间的关系。  方法  收集2015年11月至2017年4月156例于天津医科大学肿瘤医院行乳腺肿物穿刺后病理证实为浸润性乳腺癌,并行新辅助化疗及手术的女性患者的临床资料。计算穿刺标本中TIL比例,并分为高、中、低组,利用组织病理学评价标准评估新辅助化疗疗效并分析两者的相关性。  结果  新辅助化疗总有效率为78.2%(122/156),高TIL比例组的新辅助化疗有效率高于低TIL比例组(P < 0.01),激素受体阴性乳腺癌的TIL比例明显高于激素受体阳性乳腺癌(P < 0.01)。新辅助化疗疗效仅与TIL比例相关,与激素受体状态、HER-2受体状态、Ki-67阳性细胞比例无相关性。  结论   乳腺癌穿刺标本中的TIL比例是预测乳腺癌新辅助化疗疗效的独立因子,TIL比例较高的乳腺癌患者的新辅助化疗疗效常更佳。      

Induction of tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes from regional lymph node lymphocytes of human breast cancer

Background  In this study we activated breast cancer-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) from regional lymph node lymphocytes (RLNL) of HLA-A2-positive patients with breast cancer. Melthods  Freshly isolated RLNL were stimulated with solid phase anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody followed by expansion with recombinant interleukin-2. Subsequently, the RLNL were stimulated with an irradiated HLA 0201 breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, at a responder/stimulator ratio of 10/1 once a week for 2 weeks. Results  The cultured RLNL exhibited specific lysis against MCF-7 in all 5 HLA-A2-positive patients tested, but not in 2 HLA-A2-negative patients. Cytotoxicity against MCF-7 was substantially inhibited by addition of anti-HLA-A2 mAb. In 3 of 5 HLA-A2-positive patients, anti-MCF-7 CTL also exhibited a substantial level of reactivity against PC-9, an HLA-A0206-positive lung adenocarcinoma cell line. Conversely, anti-PC-9-specific CTL were inducible by multiple stimulations of RLNL with PC-9 cells in 2 of 3 patients. Conclusions  These results suggest that several common tumor antigens might exist among HLA-A2-positive breast cancers, some of which may be shared with lung adenocarcinomas.     

The prognostic significance of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in cervical cancer

ObjectiveTo predict the prognosis of cervical cancer, we constructed a novel model with 5 specific cell types and identified a potential biomarker.MethodsWe employed CIBERSORT and xCell method to evaluate the abundances of 23 cells types in tumor microenvironment. Five specific cell types were filtrated to determine different immunotypes by applying least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression method. The expression of immune checkpoints (ICPs) and effectors were validated by immunohistochemistry. Correlation analysis was performed to examine the relevance between PIK3CA mutational status and ICPs.ResultsUnsupervised clustering of patients on the basis of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes and fibroblasts identified patients with shorter overall survival (OS) (hazard ratio [HR]=3.0729; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.5103–6.2522; p=0.0118). An immunoscore (IS) signature consisting of 5 immune cell types infiltrating in tumor core (CD8T, activated NK cells, neutrophils, activated mast cells, macrophages) was constructed using LASSO Cox regression analysis. Receiver operating characteristic curves confirmed that the area under the curve of IS was significantly higher to that of International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics staging alone (0.637 vs. 0.55). Survival analysis revealed patients in high IS group exhibited a poorer OS (HR=3.0113; 95% CI=1.8746–4.8373; p<0.0001). The multivariate analysis indicated the IS was an independent prognostic factor. In addition, the lower IS related to higher expression of ICPs and neoantigen load.ConclusionsThe identification of IS in cervical cancer tissues could facilitate patient risk stratification and selection of immunotherapeutic responses, but more prospective studies are needed to assess its reliability.     

肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞在小细胞肺癌中的研究进展

小细胞肺癌（small cell lung cancer,SCLC）是一种预后极差的肺癌亚型,虽前期对放化疗敏感,但多数患者会在短期内因肿瘤复发、转移而死亡。探寻有效的、能指导预后及预测疗效的生物标志,以达到SCLC患者治疗的个体化和最优化是肿瘤研究的热门领域之一。目前有大量文献报道肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞（tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes,TILs）与较多类型癌种的（包括非小细胞肺癌、乳腺癌、结直肠癌、黑色素瘤等）预后及预测免疫治疗疗效的关系,本文将肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞在SCLC预后及疗效预测方面的作用作一综述。      

Prediction of survival after neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer by evaluation of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and residual cancer burden

Background

The tumor immune environment not only modulates the effects of immunotherapy, but also the effects of other anticancer drugs and treatment outcomes. These immune responses can be evaluated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), which has frequently been verified clinically. On the other hand, residual cancer burden (RCB) evaluation has been shown to be a useful predictor of survival after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). In this study, RCB and TILs evaluations were combined to produce an indicator that we have termed “RCB-TILs”, and its clinical application to NAC for breast cancer was verified by subtype-stratified analysis.

Methods

A total of 177 patients with breast cancer were treated with NAC. The correlation between RCB and TILs evaluated according to the standard method, and prognosis, including the efficacy of NAC, was investigated retrospectively. The RCB and TILs evaluations were combined to create the “RCB-TILs”. Patients who were RCB-positive and had high TILs were considered RCB-TILs-positive, and all other combinations were RCB-TILs-negative.

Results

On multivariable analysis, being RCB-TILs-positive was an independent factor for recurrence after NAC in all patients (p < 0.001, hazard ratio = 0.048), triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients (p = 0.018, hazard ratio = 0.041), HER2-positive breast cancer (HER2BC) patients (p = 0.036, hazard ratio = 0.134), and hormone receptor-positive breast cancer (HRBC) patients (p = 0.002, hazard ratio = 0.081).

Conclusions

The results of the present study suggest that RCB-TILs is a significant predictor for breast cancer recurrence after NAC and may be a more sensitive indicator than TILs alone.

     

Prognostic and predictive value of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in two phase III randomized adjuvant breast cancer trials

BackgroundTumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are emerging as strong prognostic factor for early breast cancer patients, especially in the triple-negative subtype. Here, we aim to validate previous findings on the prognostic role of TIL in the context of two randomized adjuvant trials and to investigate whether lymphocyte infiltrates can predict benefit from adjuvant anthracyclines.Patients and methodsA total of 816 patients enrolled and treated at the Gustave Roussy in the context of two multicentric randomized trials comparing adjuvant anthracyclines versus no chemotherapy were included in the present analysis. Primary end point was overall survival (OS). Hematoxilin and eosin slides of primary tumors were retrieved and evaluated for the percentage of intratumoral (It) and stromal (Str) TIL. Each case was also defined as high-TIL or low-TIL breast cancer adopting previously validated cutoffs.ResultsTIL were assessable for 781 of 816 cases. High-TIL cases were more likely grade 3 and estrogen receptor (ER)-negative (P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, both continuous It-TIL and Str-TIL were strong prognostic factors for OS [hazard ratio (HR) 0.85, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.77–0.95 P = 0.003; HR 0.89, 95% CI 0.81–0.96, P = 0.005 for It-TIL and Str-TIL, respectively]. The prognostic effect of continuous TIL was limited to triple-negative and HER2-positive patients. Ten-year OS rates were: 89% and 68% for triple-negative high-TIL and low-TIL, respectively (HR 0.44, 95% CI 0.18–1.10, P = 0.07) and 78% and 57% for HER2-positive high-TIL versus low-TIL, respectively (HR 0.46, 95% CI 0.20–1.11, P = 0.08). Either continuous or binary TIL variables did not predict for the efficacy of anthracyclines. Test for interaction P value was not significant in the whole study population and in subgroups (ER+/HER2-, HER2+, ER-/HER2-).ConclusionsWe confirmed the prognostic role of TIL in triple-negative early breast cancer and suggested a prognostic impact in HER2+ patients as well. Basing on our data, TIL should not be used as a parameter to select patients for anthracyclines chemotherapy.