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Li F, Chen H, Lu X, Wei Y, Zhao Y, Fu J, Xiao X, Bu H. Combining the tumor-stroma ratio with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes improves the prediction of pathological complete response in breast cancer patients. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2023; 202:173-183. [PMID: 37528265 DOI: 10.1007/s10549-023-07026-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2023] [Accepted: 06/26/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) is a common histological parameter that measures stromal abundance and is prognostic in breast cancer (BC). However, more evidence is needed on the predictive value of the TSR for the pathological complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). The purpose of this study was to determine the importance of the TSR in predicting pCR in NAC settings. METHOD We evaluated the TSR on pretreatment biopsies of 912 BC patients from four independent Chinese hospitals and investigated the potential value of the TSR for predicting pCR. Meanwhile, stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) were assessed, and we evaluated the predictive value of the combination of sTILs and TSR (TSRILs). RESULTS Patients with low stroma showed a higher pCR rate than those with high stroma among the four independent hospitals, and in multivariate analysis, the TSR was proven to be an independent predictor for pCR to NAC with an odds ratio of 1.945 (95% CI 1.230-3.075, P = 0.004). Moreover, we found that TSRILs could improve the area under the curve (AUC) for predicting pCR from 0.750 to 0.785 (P = 0.039); especially in HER2-negative BCs, the inclusion of TSRILs increased the AUC from 0.801 to 0.835 in the discovery dataset (P = 0.048) and 0.734 to 0.801 in the validation dataset (P = 0.003). CONCLUSION TSR and sTILs can be easily measured in pathological routines and provide predictive information without additional cost; with more evidence from clinical trials, TSRILs could be a candidate to better stratify patients in NAC settings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fengling Li
- Department of Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Institute of Clinical Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Hong Chen
- Institute of Clinical Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Key Laboratory of Transplant Engineering and Immunology of the National Health Commission, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xunxi Lu
- Department of Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Institute of Clinical Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yani Wei
- Department of Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
- Institute of Clinical Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yuanyuan Zhao
- Department of Pathology, Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital/Shanxi Hospital Affiliated to Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences/Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
| | - Jing Fu
- Department of Pathology, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiuli Xiao
- Department of Pathology, The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
| | - Hong Bu
- Department of Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
- Institute of Clinical Pathology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
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Karancsi Z, Hagenaars SC, Németh K, Mesker WE, Tőkés AM, Kulka J. Tumour-stroma ratio (TSR) in breast cancer: comparison of scoring core biopsies versus resection specimens. Virchows Arch 2023:10.1007/s00428-023-03555-0. [PMID: 37198327 DOI: 10.1007/s00428-023-03555-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Revised: 03/29/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Tumour-stroma ratio (TSR) is an important prognostic and predictive factor in several tumour types. The aim of this study is to determine whether TSR evaluated in breast cancer core biopsies is representative of the whole tumour. METHOD Different TSR scoring methods, their reproducibility, and the association of TSR with clinicopathological characteristics were investigated in 178 breast carcinoma core biopsies and corresponding resection specimens. TSR was assessed by two trained scientists on the most representative H&E-stained digitised slides. Patients were treated primarily with surgery between 2010 and 2021 at Semmelweis University, Budapest. RESULTS Ninety-one percent of the tumours were hormone receptor (HR)-positive (luminal-like). Interobserver agreement was highest using 100 × magnification (κcore = 0.906, κresection specimen = 0.882). The agreement between TSR of core biopsies and resection specimens of the same patients was moderate (κ = 0.514). Differences between the two types of samples were most frequent in cases with TSR scores close to the 50% cut-off point. TSR was strongly correlated with age at diagnosis, pT category, histological type, histological grade, and surrogate molecular subtype. A tendency was identified for more recurrences among stroma-high (SH) tumours (p = 0.07). Significant correlation was detected between the TSR and tumour recurrence in grade 1 HR-positive breast cancer cases (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS TSR is easy to determine and reproducible on both core biopsies and in resection specimens and is associated with several clinicopathological characteristics of breast cancer. TSR scored on core biopsies is moderately representative for the whole tumour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zsófia Karancsi
- Department of Pathology, Forensic and Insurance Medicine, Semmelweis University, Üllői út 93, 1091, Budapest, Hungary.
| | - Sophie C Hagenaars
- Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Kristóf Németh
- Department of Pathology, Forensic and Insurance Medicine, Semmelweis University, Üllői út 93, 1091, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Wilma E Mesker
- Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Anna Mária Tőkés
- Department of Pathology, Forensic and Insurance Medicine, Semmelweis University, Üllői út 93, 1091, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Janina Kulka
- Department of Pathology, Forensic and Insurance Medicine, Semmelweis University, Üllői út 93, 1091, Budapest, Hungary
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Le MK, Odate T, Kawai M, Oishi N, Kondo T. Investigating the role of core needle biopsy in evaluating tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) of invasive breast cancer: a retrospective study. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2023; 197:113-121. [PMID: 36335529 DOI: 10.1007/s10549-022-06768-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) of invasive breast carcinoma has gained attention in recent years due to its prognostic significance. Previous studies showed TSR is a potential biomarker for indicating the tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. However, it is not clear how well TSR evaluation in biopsy specimens might reflect the TSR in resection specimens. We conducted a study to investigate whether biopsy evaluation of TSR can be an alternative method. METHOD We collected cases with invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (IBC-NST) from University of Yamanashi hospital between 2011 and 2017 whose biopsy and resection specimens both had a pathologically diagnosis of IBC-NST (n = 146). We conceptualized a method for evaluating TSR in biopsy specimens within a preliminary cohort (n = 50). Within the studied cohort (n = 96), biopsy-based TSR (b-TSR) and resection-based TSR (r-TSR) were scored by two pathologists. We then evaluated our method's validity and performance by measuring interobserver variability between the two pathologists, Spearman's correlation between b-TSR and r-TSR, and the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis for defining stroma-rich and stroma-poor tumors. RESULTS Intra-class coefficient between the two pathologists was 0.59. The correlation coefficients between b-TSR and r-TSR in the two pathologists were 0.45 and 0.37. The ROC areas under the curve were 0.7 and 0.67. By considering an r-TSR of < 50% as stroma-rich, the sensitivity and specificity of detecting stroma-rich tumors were 64.1% and 66.7%, respectively, when b-TSR was < 40%. CONCLUSION Our current b-TSR evaluation method can provide information about r-TSR and facilitate pre-treatment therapy follow-up.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minh-Khang Le
- Department of Pathology, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, 409-3898, Japan
| | - Toru Odate
- Department of Pathology, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, 409-3898, Japan
| | - Masataka Kawai
- Department of Pathology, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, 409-3898, Japan
| | - Naoki Oishi
- Department of Pathology, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, 409-3898, Japan
| | - Tetsuo Kondo
- Department of Pathology, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi, 409-3898, Japan.
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Standardization of the tumor-stroma ratio scoring method for breast cancer research. Breast Cancer Res Treat 2022; 193:545-553. [PMID: 35429321 PMCID: PMC9114083 DOI: 10.1007/s10549-022-06587-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Purpose The tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) has repeatedly proven to be correlated with patient outcomes in breast cancer using large retrospective cohorts. However, studies validating the TSR often show variability in methodology, thereby hampering comparisons and uniform outcomes. Method This paper provides a detailed description of a simple and uniform TSR scoring method using Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E)-stained core biopsies and resection tissue, specifically focused on breast cancer. Possible histological challenges that can be encountered during scoring including suggestions to overcome them are reported. Moreover, the procedure for TSR estimation in lymph nodes, scoring on digital images and the automatic assessment of the TSR using artificial intelligence are described. Conclusion Digitized scoring of tumor biopsies and resection material offers interesting future perspectives to determine patient prognosis and response to therapy. The fact that the TSR method is relatively easy, quick, and cheap, offers great potential for its implementation in routine diagnostics, but this requires high quality validation studies.
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Hagenaars SC, de Groot S, Cohen D, Dekker TJA, Charehbili A, Meershoek‐Klein Kranenbarg E, Duijm‐de Carpentier M, Pijl H, Putter H, Tollenaar RAEM, Kroep JR, Mesker WE. Tumor-stroma ratio is associated with Miller-Payne score and pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in HER2-negative early breast cancer. Int J Cancer 2021; 149:1181-1188. [PMID: 34043821 PMCID: PMC8362217 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.33700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2021] [Revised: 04/22/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The tumor-stroma ratio (TSR) has proven to be a strong prognostic factor in breast cancer, demonstrating better survival for patients with stroma-low tumors. Since the role of the TSR as a predictive marker for neoadjuvant chemotherapy outcome is yet unknown, this association was evaluated for HER2-negative breast cancer in the prospective DIRECT and NEOZOTAC trials. The TSR was assessed on 375 hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections of pre-treatment biopsies. Associations between the TSR and chemotherapy response according to the Miller-Payne (MP) grading system, and between the TSR and pathological response were examined using Pearson's chi-square, Cochran-Armitage test for trend and regression analyses. A stroma-low tumor prior to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was significantly associated with a higher MP score (P = .005). This relationship remained significant in the estrogen receptor (ER)-negative subgroup (P = .047). The univariable odds ratio (OR) of a stroma-low tumor on pathological complete response (pCR) was 2.46 (95% CI 1.34-4.51, P = .004), which attenuated to 1.90 (95% CI 0.85-4.25, P = .119) after adjustment for relevant prognostic factors. Subgroup analyses revealed an OR of 5.91 in univariable analyses for ER-negativity (95% CI 1.19-29.48, P = .030) and 1.48 for ER-positivity (95% CI 0.73-3.01, P = .281). In conclusion, a low amount of stroma on pre-treatment biopsies is associated with a higher MP score and pCR rate. Therefore, the TSR is a promising biomarker in predicting neoadjuvant treatment outcome. Incorporating this parameter in routine pathological diagnostics could be worthwhile to prevent overtreatment and undertreatment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Stefanie de Groot
- Department of Medical OncologyLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
| | - Danielle Cohen
- Department of PathologyLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
| | - Tim J. A. Dekker
- Department of SurgeryLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
- Department of Medical OncologyLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
| | - Ayoub Charehbili
- Department of SurgeryLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
- Department of Medical OncologyLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
| | | | | | - Hanno Pijl
- Department of EndocrinologyLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
| | - Hein Putter
- Department of Medical Statistics and BioinformaticsLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
| | | | - Judith R. Kroep
- Department of Medical OncologyLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
| | - Wilma E. Mesker
- Department of SurgeryLeiden University Medical CenterLeidenThe Netherlands
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Agrawal R. From Editor's desk. INDIAN J PATHOL MICR 2020; 63:S1-S2. [PMID: 32108617 DOI: 10.4103/0377-4929.279555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ranjan Agrawal
- Department of Pathology, Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India
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