title: [Prognostic value of B lymphocyte infiltration in breast cancer].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prognostic value of CD20(+) tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in early-stage breast cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Paraffin sections were collected from 130 cases of stage I-III breast cancer undergoing surgery between January, 2000 and December, 2002 in our hospital. Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze mesenchymal CD20(+) TILs infiltration in the tumor and evaluate its association with the density of CD4(+) and CD8(+) TILs. The association of CD20(+) TILs was evaluated with the histopathologic features, overall survival (OS), distant disease-free survival (DDFS), and disease-free survival (DFS) of the patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Aggregations of CD20(+) lymphocytes were observed in 37.69% (49/130) of the cases. CD3(+) T cells were found to aggregate around CD20(+) B cell aggregations to form lymphoid follicle-like structures. The aggregations of CD20(+) TILs were positively correlated with the densities of mesenchymal CD8+ and CD4(+) TILs. Overall, CD20(+) TIL aggregations were not significantly correlated with the outcomes of the patients, but multivariate COX regressions suggested that CD20(+) TIL aggregations were positively correlated with DDFS (HR=0.251, 95% CI=0.071-0.894, P=0.033) and OS (HR=0.325, 95% CI=0.103-1.028, P=0.056) in hormone receptor-negative patients but not in the positive patients. Further analysis suggested that post-operative adjuvant endocrine therapy significantly improved the OS of patients positive for hormone receptors without CD20(+) TIL aggregations (P=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The long-term therapeutic effects of adjuvant endocrine therapy are correlated with CD20(+) TIL aggregations to affect prognostic value of CD20(+) TIL aggregations in early-stage breast cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, General Hospital of PLA, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Haiming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Junlan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Shunchang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.forename: Jiandong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D018951:Antigens, CD20 / Q000378:metabolism; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000166:cytology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D018951:Antigens, CD20