Comparison of the tumor immune microenvironment of primary hormone receptor-negative HER2-positive and triple negative breast cancer

Abstract

Abstract The vast majority of studies investigating immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) in patients with breast cancer have focused on triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). In this study, we compared the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) between TNBC and hormone receptor-negative HER2-positive breast cancer based on a selection of immune markers at the protein level in an institutional retrospective series. Additionally, we performed a similar comparison using publicly available transcriptomics data. Altogether, the results show a comparable TIME in both groups, with possible implications for the use of ICI in patients with hormone receptor-negative HER2-positive breast tumors.