Background. To enhance the antitumor immune response, new promising methods of immunotherapy are being developed. They consist in the blockade and activation of immune check-point molecules, in particular, the blockade of the Lag‐3 molecule (lymphocyte-activation gene 3) and the activation of the GITR receptor (Glucocorticoid induced TNF receptor). In the studies of combined use with PD-1 blockers, encouraging results were obtained, which makes the assessment of the expression of Lag-3 and GITR on immunocompetent cells of peripheral blood (PB) and tumor tissue necessary for the personalization of such treatment and understanding of the mechanisms of the antitumor immune response. Materials and methods. The study included peripheral blood samples and surgical material from 39 breast cancer patients being treated at the Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology. The subpopulation composition and expression of PD-1, Lag-3, and GITR molecules were evaluated by flow cytometry. Results. The analysis of the main populations of PB lymphocytes showed that in patients with breast cancer, the content of NKT-lymphocytes was increased, and the proportions of lymphocytes expressing CD11b and CD25 markers were increased compared to the donor group. It was revealed that the tumor tissue is dominated by T-cells, an increase in the proportion of which occurs due to a reduced content of NK-lymphocytes and B-lymphocytes. The structure of Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) is dominated by subpopulations with immunosuppressive activity, which is indicated by a decrease in the content of CD11b+, CD25+ and perforin-positive cells, increased expression of Lag-3 and PD-1. For PB and tumor tissue, the average degree of dependence of Lag-3 expression on the content of PD-1+ lymphocytes was shown. There is an increase in the content of immunosuppressive subpopulations with high PD-1 values in PB and TILs. The direct dependence of the number of perforin-containing lymphocytes and CD11b expression on the GITR content in the PB was established, but it is not typical for breast cancer tissue. Conclusion. Since the blockade of the Lag-3 molecule by monoclonal antibodies can enhance the effect of anti-PD-1 therapy in cancer patients, it is necessary to evaluate the expression and co-expression of these two markers. A high content of GITR-positive lymphocytes in the tumor tissue, on the one hand, and a decrease in the proportion of effector subpopulations of lymphocytes, on the other, indicates the influence of the tumor microenvironment on the functioning of GITR-mediated activation of the immune response. Further investigation of GITR expression and functional activity is required to understand the nature of this contradiction.
Breast cancer (BC) is most prevalent female malignancy worldwide. Despite advances in BC diagnosis and progress in drug therapy, a series of challenges associated with emergent tumour resistance causing the disease escalation still remain. Immune evasion is among the driving forces of tumour resistance against modern treatments, which promotes world-active research into the mechanisms of tumour—immune interaction.Tumour microenvironment is known to contribute greatly to the nature of this interaction. Immune cells are constitutive of tumour microenvironment as tumour-associated macrophages, myeloid-derived suppressor cells and tumour-infi ltrating lymphocytes. Tumour-infi ltrating lymphocytes are represented by B-, T- and NK-cells, which localisation and subpopulation structure in tumour may possess a prognostic and clinical significance. Th e infi ltration density by certain effector cell types prior to chemotherapy is an important predictor of patient survival. Putting otherwise, the presence of effector lymphocyte subpopulations in tumour defi nes the strength of antitumour immunity and may establish the success of drug treatment.This study analysed the infiltration levels of CD3, CD4, CD20 and CD38 lymphocytes in several molecular BC subtypes. Tumour immunophenotyping was performed in cryosectioning and immunofl uorescence assays with a ZEISS AXIOSKOP microscope, Germany. We analysed 96 luminal BC (37 subtype A (38.5 %), 52 B-Her2-negative subtype (54.2 %), 7 B-Her2-positive subtype (7.3 %)) and non-luminal BC samples (3 HER2+ subtype (14.3 %), 18 triple-negative subtype (85.7 %)). The infiltration and antigen expression patterns have been assessed. Analyses of tumour-infi ltrating subpopulations revealed lower infiltration in luminal BC vs. other subtypes, albeit at no significance.
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