Inverse correlation between the amounts of lymphocytic infiltrate and stroma in breast carcinoma
Camille Verocq,
Jean-Christophe Noël,
Manon Charry,
Egor Zindy,
Sandrine Rorive,
Isabelle Salmon,
Christine Decaestecker,
Xavier Catteau
Affiliations
Camille Verocq
Department of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070, Brussels, Belgium; CurePath (Centre Universitaire inter Régional d’Expertise en anatomie Pathologique Hospitalière, CHU Tivoli - CHIREC), Rue de Borfilet, 12A, 6040, Jumet, Belgium; Corresponding author. CurePath, Rue de Borfilet, 12A, 6040 Jumet, Belgium.
Jean-Christophe Noël
Department of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070, Brussels, Belgium
Manon Charry
CurePath (Centre Universitaire inter Régional d’Expertise en anatomie Pathologique Hospitalière, CHU Tivoli - CHIREC), Rue de Borfilet, 12A, 6040, Jumet, Belgium
Egor Zindy
DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, ULB, Rue Adrienne Bolland 8, 6041, Gosselies, Belgium
Sandrine Rorive
Department of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070, Brussels, Belgium; CurePath (Centre Universitaire inter Régional d’Expertise en anatomie Pathologique Hospitalière, CHU Tivoli - CHIREC), Rue de Borfilet, 12A, 6040, Jumet, Belgium
Isabelle Salmon
Department of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070, Brussels, Belgium; CurePath (Centre Universitaire inter Régional d’Expertise en anatomie Pathologique Hospitalière, CHU Tivoli - CHIREC), Rue de Borfilet, 12A, 6040, Jumet, Belgium; DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, ULB, Rue Adrienne Bolland 8, 6041, Gosselies, Belgium
Christine Decaestecker
DIAPath - Center for Microscopy and Molecular Imaging, ULB, Rue Adrienne Bolland 8, 6041, Gosselies, Belgium; Laboratory of Image Synthesis and Analysis, Ecole Polytechnique de Bruxelles, ULB, 50, Avenue F. Roosevelt, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
Xavier Catteau
Department of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Route de Lennik 808, 1070, Brussels, Belgium; CurePath (Centre Universitaire inter Régional d’Expertise en anatomie Pathologique Hospitalière, CHU Tivoli - CHIREC), Rue de Borfilet, 12A, 6040, Jumet, Belgium
Background: Previous breast carcinoma studies focused on the evaluation of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) or of tumoural stroma via the tumour stroma ratio (TSR). Few studies assessed peritumoural lymphocytes and almost no studies investigated a possible relationship between lymphocytes and stroma. This prompted us to evaluate the amount of tumour cells, intra- and peritumoural lymphocytes, and stroma in breast cancer to support the hypothesis that the stroma may block the infiltration of lymphocytes inside the tumour. Methods: We collected a retrospective series of 158 breast cancers (<25 mm). In addition to standard TILs and TSR evaluations, we assessed the percentages of tumour cells, stromal myofibroblasts, intra- and peritumoural lymphocytes on full-section tumours with haematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemical staining. Results: We showed significant negative correlations between the amounts of stroma and both intra- and peritumoural lymphocyte percentages. Considering the estrogen receptor positive invasive breast cancer of no special type cases, we showed that TSR had a positive prognostic value with an optimal threshold of 10 %. Conclusions: This study is one of the first to show inverse correlations between tumoural stroma amount and intra- and peritumoural lymphocyte percentages, which supports the hypothesis that tumoural stroma can prevent the recruitment of lymphocytes around and within the tumour.
