Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

The Value of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) for Prediction of Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (NAC) in Breast Cancer According to the Molecular Subtype

Version 1 : Received: 19 October 2023 / Approved: 20 October 2023 / Online: 20 October 2023 (08:18:08 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Faur, I.F.; Dobrescu, A.; Clim, A.I.; Pasca, P.; Prodan-Barbulescu, C.; Gherle, B.D.; Tarta, C.; Isaic, A.; Brebu, D.; Duta, C.; Totolici, B.; Lazar, G. The Value of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) for Predicting the Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (NAC) in Breast Cancer according to the Molecular Subtypes. Biomedicines 2023, 11, 3037. Faur, I.F.; Dobrescu, A.; Clim, A.I.; Pasca, P.; Prodan-Barbulescu, C.; Gherle, B.D.; Tarta, C.; Isaic, A.; Brebu, D.; Duta, C.; Totolici, B.; Lazar, G. The Value of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) for Predicting the Response to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy (NAC) in Breast Cancer according to the Molecular Subtypes. Biomedicines 2023, 11, 3037.

Abstract

Introduction: Antitumor host immune response is an important factor, but its role is not fully established. The role of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in breast cancer as an immunological biomarker has been significantly explored over the past years. The number of patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) increased and identification of a biomarker to predict the probability of pCR (pathological complete response) is a high priority. Materials and methods: We evaluated 334 cases of BC treated with NAC followed by surgical resection from 2020-2022 in Ist Clinic of Oncological Surgery, Oncological Institute "Prof Dr I Chiricuta" Cluj Napoca. Of the above, 122 cases were available for histological evaluation both in pre-NAC biopsy and post-NAC resection tissue. Evaluation of biopsy fragments and resection parts using hematoxylin eosin (H&E). The TIL evaluation took place according to the recommendations of the International TIL Working Group (ITILWG). Results: There was a strong association between elevated levels of pre-NAC TIL. At the same time, there is a statistically significant correlation between stromal TIL and tumor grade, the number of lymph node metastases, the molecular subtype, and the number of mitoses (p <0.005). Intratumoral TIL showed a significant correlation with tumor size, distant metastasis, molecular subtype, number of mitosis, stage and lymph node metastasis (p<0.005). We also demonstrated that high pre-NAC TILs represent a strong predictive marker for pCR. Conclusion: This study reveals the role of TIL as a predictive biomarker in breast cancer not only for the well-established TNBC (triple negative breast cancer) and HER2+ (Her2 overexpressed) subtypes but also in Luminal A and B molecular subtypes. In this scenario, the evaluation of TILs as novel predictive and therapy-predicting factors should become a routinely performed analysis that could guide clinicians into the choice of the most appropriate therapy.

Keywords

breast cancer; TIL; modified radical mastectomy; breast conservative surgery; predictive biomarker

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Surgery

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0


×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.