title: Association of macrophage infiltration with angiogenesis and prognosis in invasive breast carcinoma.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Imperial Cancer Research Fund Molecular Oncology Laboratory, University of Oxford Institute of Molecular Medicine, England.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Leek
authors.forename: C E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Whitehouse
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Greenall
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: 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