title: Inflammatory cells in node-negative breast cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To study the impact of inflammatory cells in a clinically well-defined cohort of women with node-negative breast cancer in a nested case-control study design.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cohort was comprised of 190 women who died from breast cancer and 190 women still alive at the date of death for the corresponding breast cancer patients were used as controls. The inclusion criteria included; a tumour size ≤ 50 mm, no lymph node metastases and no initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy. Immunohistochemical stainings for CD3, CD4, CD8, FoxP3, CD20, tryptase and CD68 were performed on TMA blocks, evaluated and correlated to each other and to age, tumour size, histological grade, ER, PgR, Ki67 and cyclin A.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no difference regarding the amount or content of inflammatory cells in the cases compared to controls. T- and B-cells were highly correlated to each other but these cell types correlated to a lesser extent to macrophages and not at all to mast cells. A weak tendency of correlations between all the subsets of inflammatory cells and histological grade, Ki67 and cyclin A was observed, although a negative correlation was seen for mast cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The amount or content of inflammatory cells in invasive breast cancer did not appear to influence death in node-negative breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and Pathology, Karolinska Institute, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Löfdahl
authors.forename: Cecilia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ahlin
authors.forename: Marit
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Holmqvist
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Holmberg
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Marie-Louise
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Fjällskog
authors.forename: Rose-Marie
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Amini
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D011379:Prognosis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers