Journal Article

Use of Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) to predict the treatment response to eribulin chemotherapy in breast cancer

Asano, Yuka, Takada, Koji, Onoda, Naoyoshi, Ohira, Masaichi, Takashima, Tsutomu, Hirakawa, Kosei, Kashiwagi, Shinichiro, Noda, Satoru, Takahashi, Katsuyuki, Tomita, Shuhei, Goto, Wataru, Ohsawa, Masahiko

2017

Overview

Eribulin mesylate (eribulin) is currently indicated for treatment of locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer (MBC). It is a cytotoxic agent with unique mechanisms that suppress epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of cancer cells. On the other hand, Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), which are considered indicators of immune response monitoring, have been reported as prognostic factors and predictors of therapeutic efficacy. We thought that eribulin, which has an EMT-inhibiting mechanism, may produce an antitumor effect by improving the immune microenvironment, and in this study investigated the effects of breast cancer eribulin chemotherapy on the immune microenvironment with TILs as a marker. TILs was evaluated in 52 patients with MBC who underwent chemotherapy with eribulin. The correlation between TILs evaluated according to the standard method, and prognosis, including the efficacy of eribulin chemotherapy, was investigated retrospectively. Of the 52 MBC patients, 29 (55.8%) were in the high TILs group and 23 (44.2%) were in the low TILs group. The high TILs group included significantly more triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) (p = 0.008) than the low TILs group. In an analysis of outcomes, TNBC patients in the high TILs group had significantly longer disease-free survival than TNBC patients in the low TILs group (p = 0.033, log-rank), but no significant differences were seen in all breast cancer patients (p = 0.489, log-rank) or in non-TNBC patients (p = 0.878, log-rank). In a multivariate analysis of recurrence in TNBC patients, being in the high TILs group was again an independent factor for a good outcome (p = 0.031, HR = 0.063). The results of this study suggest that TILs may be useful as a predictive marker of the therapeutic effect of eribulin chemotherapy in TNBC.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Anticancer properties / Antineoplastic Agents - therapeutic use / Antitumor activity / Biology and Life Sciences / Biomarkers, Tumor / Breast cancer / Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy / Breast Neoplasms - immunology / Breast Neoplasms - mortality / Breast Neoplasms - pathology / Cancer / Cancer therapies / Cell division / Chemotherapy / Cytotoxicity / Development and progression / Disease Progression / Drug therapy / Eribulin mesylate / Female / Furans - therapeutic use / Genetic aspects / Health aspects / Humans / Immune response / Immune system / Ketones - therapeutic use / Lymphocytes / Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating - immunology / Medical prognosis / Medicine / Medicine and Health Sciences / Mesenchyme / Metastases / Metastasis / Multivariate analysis / Neoplasm Grading / Neoplasm Metastasis / Neoplasm Staging / Oncology / Patient outcomes / Patients / Physical Sciences / Polymerization / Prognosis / Research and Analysis Methods / Studies / Systematic review / Treatment Outcome / Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - drug therapy / Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - immunology / Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - mortality / Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms - pathology / Tumor markers / Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes / Tumors / University graduates