B1-CELLS OF INNATE IMMUNITY IN THE BONE MARROW IN BREAST CANCER PATIENTS: IDENTIFICATION AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH CLINICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS

Abstract

Objective: In recent years more attention has been paid to the study of the innate immune system, which includes B1-lymphocytes. They produce pentameric M antibodies, which play an important role in the induction of apoptosis in tumor cells. The study of lymphocyte populations can help to reveal the phenomenon of persistence of disseminated tumor cells in the bone marrow (BM) of breast cancer (BC) patients. Methodology: This study included BM punctuates from 64 BC patients and 10 women with benign processes. The study was carried out by two methods: morphological and immunological. Calculation of the myelogram under light microscopy was performed by two expert morphologists. Multiparameter flow cytometry (FACSCanto II cytometer) has been used to assess the populations of BM lymphocytes. Antibodies CD20, CD5, CD19, CD38, CD22, CD45 were used. Results: The content of B1 (CD5+) cells is higher in luminal B-Her2 “+” BC, than with B-Her2 “-”: 10.2% (n=10) versus 4.0% (n=20), p=0.032. The highest levels of B1-cells were observed in stage IIA (12.4±10.7%), also with 2 affected lymph nodes and their maximum size: 16.0±10.2% (n=5) and 5.8±1.6% (n=29), p=0.07. The content of B1-cells correlated with eosinophilic myelocytes (R=0.365; p=0.011; n=48), plasma cells (R=0.409; p=0.004; n=48) in BC. Conclusion: The determination of the level of B1-lymphocytes in the BM can serve as an additional marker of the molecular subtype of BC. It is described that an increase in the content of plasma cells takes place with DTC in the bone marrow. Based on this it can be assumed an increase in the level of B1-lymphocytes is associated with a high probability of metastases in the BM.