Association of macrophage infiltration with angiogenesis and prognosis in invasive breast carcinoma.
Angiogenesis is a key process in tumor growth and metastasis and is a major independent prognostic factor in breast cancer. A range of cytokines stimulate the tumor neovasculature, and tumor-associated macrophages have been shown recently to produce several important angiogenic factors. We have quantified macrophage infiltration using Chalkley count morphometry in a series of invasive breast carcinomas to investigate the relationship between tumor-associated macrophage infiltration and tumor angiogenesis, and prognosis. There was a significant positive correlation between high vascular grade and increased macrophage index (P = 0.03), and a strong relationship was observed between increased macrophage counts and reduced relapse-free survival (P = 0.006) and reduced overall survival (P = 0.004) as an independent prognostic variable. These data indicate a role for macrophages in angiogenesis and prognosis in breast cancer and that this cell type may represent an important target for immunoinhibitory therapy in breast cancer.
Leek
R D
RD
Imperial Cancer Research Fund Molecular Oncology Laboratory, University of Oxford Institute of Molecular Medicine, England.
Lewis
C E
CE
Whitehouse
R
R
Greenall
M
M
Clarke
J
J
Harris
A L
AL
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology; D002452:Cell Count; D002465:Cell Movement; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008264:Macrophages / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology