Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes may predict prognosis in breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Abstract

Objective: Investigation of the histopathological features in core biopsies can predict the chemotherapy responses and thus provide information about the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been reported as a prognostic factor in many tumors. We investigated the relationship between TILs and clinicopathological parameters and patients’ survival status. Method: 74 breast cancer patients who underwent core biopsy between 2010 and 2021 and were operated on after neoadjuvant chemotherapy were included in our study. The relationship between TIL in core biopsy materials of the cases and pathological response to treatment in resection materials and clinicopathological features of the cases were evaluated. Results: No significant relationship was found between TIL and treatment response. TIL was low in cases with high ER expression (p:0.012). Most of the cases with low TIL were in the Luminal A+B groups (p:0.013). Low TIL was associated with short disease-free survival (DFS), and TIL was a prognostic factor for DFS in multivariate analysis. Conclusion: Breast cancer is an immunogenic tumor, and TIL before neoadjuvant therapy has predictive value on disease prognosis.