Immunohistochemical localization of CD1a-positive putative dendritic cells in human breast tumours

Abstract

SummaryThe presence of a high number of infiltrating CD1a + cells in malignant neoplasms has been reported to be associated with an improved prognosis, reduced tumour recurrence and fewer metastases. This study identified a population of CD1a + cells within the lymphoid cell infiltrate in human ductal breast carcinoma (n = 52), which was significantly different from normal breast tissue, in which only two out of nine cases expressed CD1a + cells (P = 0.0192). In the majority of cases, the infiltrate was low compared with the number of macrophages and T cells present (results not shown). There was no correlation between the number of CD1a + cells and tumour grade, with all tumour grades expressing similar numbers of infiltrating CD1a + cells. There was clear evidence, however, that the CD1a + cells were closely associated with tumour cells. It is likely that CD1a + cells have a role in antigen capture and presentation in human tumours, and this study documents the density of CD1a + cells in a large sample of all histological grades of human breast carcinomas.

CD1a-positive infiltrating-dendritic cell density and 5-year survival from human breast cancer

“…A very small subgroup of monocytes in adults and thymocytes in early life can also express CD1a. CD1a-positive DCs have been reported to be present within breast cancers from very early, preinvasive DCIS lesions to invasive ductal carcinomas, but there was no statistical correlation between DC density and the grade of the tumour (Hillenbrand, 1999). On the other hand, S-100-positive DC do appear to show some correlation with the breast tumour grade (Bell et al, 1999;Lespagnard et al, 1999), indicating that CD1a and S-100 define somewhat different populations of DCs in breast cancers.…”

“…The anti-cytokeratin Mab, Cam 5.2, was used to identify tumour (and normal) epithelial cells in the adenocarcinomas, to exclude the possibility of CD1a staining of epithelial cells as opposed to DC (Makin et al, 1984;Hillenbrand et al, 1999).…”

“…Endogenous peroxidase blockade (0.5% hydrogen peroxide; methanol, 20 min) was followed by streptavidin -HRP incubation (1 h). High-sensitivity nickel chlorideenhanced diaminobenzidene (nickel DAB) techniques were used and sections were counterstained with methyl green (Coventry et al, 1994;Hillenbrand et al, 1999).…”

“…A possible reason for the poor antitumour immune response may be the reduced number and activation status of dendritic cells (DCs) in human breast cancers. We have previously shown that DCs are absent, or only present in very low numbers, in most human breast cancers using CD1a and other markers and that DCs are poorly activated (Coventry et al, 1997;Hillenbrand et al, 1999;Coventry et al, 2002).…”

CD1A-positive cells and HSP60 (HSPD1) levels in keratoacanthoma and squamous cell carcinoma

“…CD1a cells present lipid antigen derived from apoptotic or necrotic cells occurring in the tumor microenvironment (Coventry and Heinzel 2004). The presence of CD1a+ dendritic cells (DCs) infiltrating the tumor correlates with a better prognosis in mammary (Hillebrand et al 1999;Bell et al 1999;Treilleux et al 2004;La Rocca et al 2008), oesophageal (Ikeguchi et al 1998), and colorectal (Sandel et al 2005) cancers. CD1a+ tumor-infiltrating DCs can recognize and process tumor antigens but to achieve full functional efficiency, they migrate, after antigen endocytosis and processing, into lymph nodes, in which their full maturation takes place (Adam et al 2003;Andrews et al 2005).…”