Culha Yaşar, Ozdemir Cigdem, Davarci Sena Ece, Ünlü Beyza, Olgun A K Mehmet, Demir Hacer, Baykara Meltem
Department of Medical Oncology, Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
Department of Pathology, Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University School of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey.
Sci Rep. 2024 Dec 5;14(1):30341. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-82106-2.
There are conflicting data regarding the prognostic effect of microvascular density (MVD) in breast cancer and its molecular subtypes. It is thought that high levels of FOXP3 + T cells in breast cancer are associated with poor prognosis. However, data regarding FOXP3 show significant variability in the literature. In our study, we aim to measure MVD and FOXP3 + T cells in breast cancer cases and investigate their relationship with each other and their effects on breast cancer patients' clinical and prognostic features. In our study, the results of 207 female breast cancer patients whose excisional tumoral tissue was obtained are presented. The study evaluated the findings under a light microscope using antibodies against CD34 for measuring MVD and FOXP3 for measuring FOXP3-positive T cells. CD34 ≥ 17 was categorized as high MVD, and CD34 < 17 was classified as low MVD. FOXP3 + cell count ≥ 20/mm2 was categorized as high FOXP3 positivity and < 20/mm2 as low FOXP3 positivity. The SPSS program (version 22) was used to evaluate the results statistically, and p < 0.05 was considered significant. The median age was 54.0 (27-86) years, and the median follow-up period was 60.0 (IQR: 42.6-86.5) months. In the high MVD group, a higher progesterone receptor (PR) positivity rate was detected (p = 0.035). High FOXP3 positivity was significantly associated with high nuclear grade (p = 0.003). High FOXP3 positivity was significantly associated with PR negativity and high Ki67 values (p = 0.009, p = 0.012, respectively). No statistically significant correlation was found between MVD elevation and FOXP3 positivity (r = 0.063, p = 0.36). A weakly significant positive correlation was detected between high Ki67 and FOXP3 positivity (r = 0.0146, p = 0.04). A weak inverse correlation was detected between high FOXP3 positivity and PR percentage values (r=-0.182, p = 0.01). While there was no significant difference in disease-free survival in cases with high MVD and high FOXP3 + T cells compared to groups with low levels, the results were not mature enough because the median values in overall survival could not be reached. A significant correlation was found between high FOXP3 positivity and some aggressive tumor features; no effect on survival was detected. In contrast to literature data on luminal A breast cancer, high MVD in the luminal B (HER2-) subgroup was associated with a lower risk of recurrence. Our study is the first in the literature to evaluate the relationship between MVD measured using CD34 and FOXP3 positive T cells in breast cancer. Our study found no correlation between MVD and FOXP3 positivity, while literature data show significant correlations in some other cancers.
关于微血管密度（MVD）在乳腺癌及其分子亚型中的预后作用，存在相互矛盾的数据。人们认为乳腺癌中高水平的FOXP3 + T细胞与预后不良有关。然而，关于FOXP3的数据在文献中显示出显著的变异性。在我们的研究中，我们旨在测量乳腺癌病例中的MVD和FOXP3 + T细胞，并研究它们之间的相互关系以及它们对乳腺癌患者临床和预后特征的影响。在我们的研究中，呈现了207例获得切除肿瘤组织的女性乳腺癌患者的结果。该研究使用抗CD34抗体测量MVD和抗FOXP3抗体测量FOXP3阳性T细胞，在光学显微镜下评估结果。CD34≥17被分类为高MVD，CD34 < 17被分类为低MVD。FOXP3 +细胞计数≥20/mm²被分类为高FOXP3阳性，< 20/mm²为低FOXP3阳性。使用SPSS程序（版本22）对结果进行统计学评估，p < 0.05被认为具有显著性。中位年龄为54.0（27 - 86）岁，中位随访期为60.0（四分位间距：42.6 - 86.5）个月。在高MVD组中，检测到较高的孕激素受体（PR）阳性率（p = 0.035）。高FOXP3阳性与高核分级显著相关（p = 0.003）。高FOXP3阳性与PR阴性和高Ki67值显著相关（分别为p = 0.009，p = 0.012）。未发现MVD升高与FOXP3阳性之间存在统计学显著相关性（r = 0.063，p = 0.36）。在高Ki67和FOXP3阳性之间检测到微弱的显著正相关（r = 0.0146，p = 0.04）。在高FOXP3阳性与PR百分比值之间检测到微弱的负相关（r = -0.182，p = 0.01）。与低水平组相比，高MVD和高FOXP3 + T细胞病例的无病生存率没有显著差异，但由于总生存期的中位值未达到，结果还不够成熟。发现高FOXP3阳性与一些侵袭性肿瘤特征之间存在显著相关性；未检测到对生存的影响。与关于腔面A型乳腺癌的文献数据相反，腔面B（HER2 -）亚组中的高MVD与较低的复发风险相关。我们的研究是文献中首次评估使用CD34测量的MVD与乳腺癌中FOXP3阳性T细胞之间关系的研究。我们的研究发现MVD与FOXP3阳性之间没有相关性，而文献数据显示在其他一些癌症中存在显著相关性。
