Possible involvement of regulatory T cells in tumor onset and progression in primary breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
The FOXP3 mRNA expression and the other regulatory T cell-related molecules were investigated and compared with clinicopathological parameters in human primary breast cancer.


METHODS
This study included 136 breast cancer patients operated in our department from 2003 to 2006. Total RNA was extracted from frozen normal breast and breast cancer tissues, and the expression of FOXP3, IL-10, TGFbeta1 and CCL22 mRNA was evaluated using quantitative real-time RT-PCR.


RESULTS
FOXP3, IL-10, TGFbeta1 and CCL22 mRNA expressions were significantly higher in cancer tissue than in normal tissue, not only at pT1, 2, and 3 stages but also at the DCIS stage. There were positive correlations between FOXP3 and IL-10, FOXP3 and TGFbeta1, as well as FOXP3 and CCL22 mRNA expressions, respectively. FOXP3 and IL-10 mRNA expressions were significantly upregulated in PgR-negative or HER2-positive tumors.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that regulatory T cells are involved in tumor onset and progression in human primary breast cancer, possibly contributing to poor prognosis of patients with breast cancer.
Ohara
Masahiro
M
Department of Surgical Oncology, Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, Japan. oharamas@hotmail.com
Yamaguchi
Yoshiyuki
Y
Matsuura
Kazuo
K
Murakami
Shigeru
S
Arihiro
Koji
K
Okada
Morihito
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D054422:Chemokine CCL22 / Q000378:metabolism; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000378:metabolism*; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1 / Q000378:metabolism
C515482:CCL22 protein, human; D054422:Chemokine CCL22; C418974:FOXP3 protein, human; D051858:Forkhead Transcription Factors; D007375:Interleukin-1; D053773:Transforming Growth Factor beta1