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Liefaard MC, van der Voort A, van Seijen M, Thijssen B, Sanders J, Vonk S, Mittempergher L, Bhaskaran R, de Munck L, van Leeuwen-Stok AE, Salgado R, Horlings HM, Lips EH, Sonke GS. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in HER2-positive breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and dual HER2-blockade. NPJ Breast Cancer 2024; 10:29. [PMID: 38637568 PMCID: PMC11026378 DOI: 10.1038/s41523-024-00636-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been associated with outcomes in HER2-positive breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and trastuzumab. However, it remains unclear if TILs could be a prognostic and/or predictive biomarker in the context of dual HER2-targeting treatment. In this study, we evaluated the association between TILs and pathological response (pCR) and invasive-disease free survival (IDFS) in 389 patients with stage II-III HER2 positive breast cancer who received neoadjuvant anthracycline-containing or anthracycline-free chemotherapy combined with trastuzumab and pertuzumab in the TRAIN-2 trial. Although no significant association was seen between TILs and pCR, patients with TIL scores ≥60% demonstrated an excellent 3-year IDFS of 100% (95% CI 100-100), regardless of hormone receptor status, nodal stage and attainment of pCR. Additionally, in patients with hormone receptor positive disease, TILs as a continuous variable showed a trend to a positive association with pCR (adjusted Odds Ratio per 10% increase in TILs 1.15, 95% CI 0.99-1.34, p = 0.070) and IDFS (adjusted Hazard Ratio per 10% increase in TILs 0.71, 95% CI 0.50-1.01, p = 0.058). We found no interactions between TILs and anthracycline treatment. Our results suggest that high TIL scores might be able to identify stage II-III HER2-positive breast cancer patients with a favorable prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- M C Liefaard
- Division of Molecular Pathology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Medical Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - A van der Voort
- Department of Medical Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - M van Seijen
- Division of Molecular Pathology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - B Thijssen
- Division of Molecular Carcinogenesis, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Oncode Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - J Sanders
- Department of Pathology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - S Vonk
- Division of Molecular Pathology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Core Facility Molecular Pathology & Biobanking, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - L Mittempergher
- Department of Research and Development, Agendia NV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - R Bhaskaran
- Department of Research and Development, Agendia NV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - L de Munck
- Department of Research and Development, Netherlands Comprehensive Cancer Organisation (IKNL), Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - A E van Leeuwen-Stok
- Dutch Breast Cancer Research Group, BOOG Study Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - R Salgado
- Department of Pathology, GZA-ZNA Hospitals, Wilrijk, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - H M Horlings
- Department of Pathology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - E H Lips
- Division of Molecular Pathology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - G S Sonke
- Department of Medical Oncology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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