Stromal mast cells in invasive breast cancer are a marker of favourable prognosis: a study of 4,444 cases
Open Access
- 13 March 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment
- Vol. 107 (2), 249-257
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-007-9546-3
Abstract
Purpose We have previously demonstrated in a pilot study of 348 invasive breast cancers that mast cell (MC) infiltrates within primary breast cancers are associated with a good prognosis. Our aim was to verify this finding in a larger cohort of invasive breast cancer patients and examine the relationship between the presence of MCs and other clinical and pathological features. Experimental design Clinically annotated tissue microarrays (TMAs) containing 4,444 cases were constructed and stained with c-Kit (CD-117) using standard immunoperoxidase techniques to identify and quantify MCs. For statistical analysis, we applied a split-sample validation technique. Breast cancer specific survival was analyzed by Kaplan–Meier [KM] method and log rank test was used to compare survival curves. Results Survival analysis by KM method showed that the presence of stromal MCs was a favourable prognostic factor in the training set (P = 0.001), and the validation set group (P = 0.006). X-tile plot generated to define the optimal number of MCs showed that the presence of any number of stromal MCs predicted good prognosis. Multivariate analysis showed that the MC effect in the training set (Hazard ratio [HR] = 0.804, 95% Confidence interval [CI], 0.653–0.991, P = 0.041) and validation set analysis (HR = 0.846, 95% CI, 0.683–1.049, P = 0.128) was independent of age, tumor grade, tumor size, lymph node, ER and Her2 status. Conclusions This study concludes that stromal MC infiltration in invasive breast cancer is an independent good prognostic marker and reiterates the critical role of local inflammatory responses in breast cancer progression.Keywords
This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
- Type, Density, and Location of Immune Cells Within Human Colorectal Tumors Predict Clinical OutcomeScience, 2006
- Enhancement of vaccine-mediated antitumor immunity in cancer patients after depletion of regulatory T cellsJCI Insight, 2005
- Mast cell density, angiogenesis, blood clotting, and prognosis in women with advanced ovarian cancerGynecologic Oncology, 2005
- Determination of Stromal Signatures in Breast CarcinomaPLoS Biology, 2005
- Tumor–stroma interactionsCurrent Opinion in Genetics & Development, 2004
- The presence of stromal mast cells identifies a subset of invasive breast cancers with a favorable prognosisLaboratory Investigation, 2004
- Tumour-educated macrophages promote tumour progression and metastasisNature Reviews Cancer, 2004
- Mast cell‐mediated apoptosis of endothelial cells in vitro: A paracrine mechanism involving TNF‐α‐mediated down‐regulation of bcl‐2 expressionJournal of Cellular Physiology, 2003
- Tumor angiogenesis of non–small cell lung cancerMicroscopy Research and Technique, 2003
- Expression of stem cell factor in basal cell carcinomaBritish Journal of Dermatology, 1997