title: Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in early breast cancer.
abstract: Immunoediting represents a complex and dynamic process involving cancer and immune system cells, composed by three intertwined phases: elimination, equilibrium and escape. A large number of immune cell subtypes are involved, each playing a peculiar role in interacting with cancer cells: cytotoxic CD8+T cells play a main role in cancer killing by inducing tumor cell death, while FOXP3+ T-regulatory cells represent an immune-inhibitory cell subtype. The evaluation of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in H&E routine samples has been shown to represent a reliable surrogate of the immune anti-tumor activity and a robust independent prognostic biomarker in breast cancer (BC) patients, especially in the Tripe Negative and HER2+ subtypes. The present review addresses the mechanisms of breast cancer immunoediting, its cell complexity and prognostic/predictive relevance, providing evidence that TILs represent one the most promising biomarkers for BC patients.
authors.affiliation: Biobank for Translational Medicine Unit, Department of Pathology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy; University of Milan, School of Medicine, Italy. Electronic address: giancarlo.pruneri@ieo.it.
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pruneri
authors.affiliation: Biobank for Translational Medicine Unit, Department of Pathology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vingiani
authors.affiliation: Institut of Pathology, Charité Universtitätsmedizin Berlin, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) Partner Site Berlin and DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Carsten
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Denkert
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016131:Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000276:immunology*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology; D019139:Tumor Escape
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Breast cancer; Gene expression; Phenotype; Prognosis; Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes