Patients with metastatic breast cancer leading to CD4+ T cell lymphopaenia have poor outcome.

BACKGROUND

Low lymphocyte count is a prognostic factor in cancer patients including metastatic breast cancer patients (MBC) but the relative role of each lymphocyte subtype is unclear in MBC.

METHODS

The impact of lymphocyte subsets was analysed in two prospective MBC patients' cohorts. Cohort A patients (n=103) were included before the first line of chemotherapy and cohort B patients (n=101) were included after at least one line of chemotherapy. Extensive phenotypic analyses were performed on fresh whole blood. Plasma cytokines levels were measured using commercially available Luminex-based multiplex kits. Prognostic value of lymphocyte subsets and circulating cytokines was analysed.

RESULTS

In both cohorts, severe lymphopaenia (<0.7 Giga/L) correlated with poor overall survival (OS) (median OS: 6.6 months versus 21.7 months in cohort A and 4.5 versus 9 months in cohort B). CD8(+), CD19(+) and CD56(+) T cell counts had no significant prognostic value for OS. After stratification (≤0.2, [0.20-0.45], >0.45 Giga/L), CD4 lymphopaenia appeared to be correlated with poor OS in both cohorts. Furthermore, severe CD4(+) lymphopaenia (≤0.2 Giga/L) was strongly correlated with poor OS in both cohorts (1.2 months versus 24.9 months in cohort A and 5.7 versus 13.1 months in cohort B). In multivariate analysis, after stratification CD4(+) lymphopaenia appeared to be an independent prognostic factor for OS in both cohorts. CD4(+) lymphopaenia correlated with low plasmatic levels of CCL22 that might directly contribute to CD4(+) lymphopaenia.

CONCLUSIONS

CD4(+) lymphopaenia was associated with reduced OS in MBC patients regardless of the chemotherapy line. Decreased levels of plasmatic CCL22 may contribute to CD4(+) lymphopaenia.