%0 Journal Article
%A López, Carlos
%A Bosch, Ramon
%A Orero, Guifre
%A Korzynska, Anna
%A García-Rojo, Marcial
%A Bueno, Gloria
%A Fernández-Carrobles, María Del Milagro
%A Gibert-Ramos, Albert
%A Roszkowiak, Lukasz
%A Callau, Cristina
%A Fontoura, Laia
%A Salvadó, Maria-Teresa
%A Álvaro, Tomás
%A Jaén, Joaquín
%A Roso-Llorach, Albert
%A Llobera, Montserrat
%A Gil, Julia
%A Onyos, Montserrat
%A Plancoulaine, Benoît
%A Baucells, Jordi
%A Lejeune, Marylène
%T The Immune Response in Nonmetastatic Axillary Lymph Nodes Is Associated with the Presence of Axillary Metastasis and Breast Cancer Patient Outcome.
%D 2019
%U http://hdl.handle.net/10668/14869
%X Tumor cells can modify the immune response in primary tumors and in the axillary lymph nodes with metastasis (ALN+) in breast cancer (BC), influencing patient outcome. We investigated whether patterns of immune cells in the primary tumor and in the axillary lymph nodes without metastasis (ALN-) differed between patients diagnosed without ALN+ (diagnosed-ALN-) and with ALN+ (diagnosed-ALN+) and the implications for clinical outcome. Eleven immune markers were studied using immunohistochemistry, tissue microarray, and digital image analysis in 141 BC patient samples (75 diagnosed-ALN+ and 66 diagnosed-ALN-). Two logistic regression models were derived to identify the clinical, pathologic, and immunologic variables associated with the presence of ALN+ at diagnosis. There are immune patterns in the ALN- associated with the presence of ALN+ at diagnosis. The regression models revealed a small subgroup of diagnosed-ALN+ with ALN- immune patterns that were more similar to those of the ALN- of the diagnosed-ALN-. This small subgroup also showed similar clinical behavior to that of the diagnosed-ALN-. Another small subgroup of diagnosed-ALN- with ALN- immune patterns was found whose members were more similar to those of the ALN- of the diagnosed-ALN+. This small subgroup had similar clinical behavior to the diagnosed-ALN+. These data suggest that the immune response present in ALN- at diagnosis could influence the clinical outcome of BC patients.
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