Immunological characterization of mononuclear cells in peripheral blood and regional lymph nodes of breast cancer patients

Abstract

Mononuclear cells from peripheral blood and draining lymph nodes of 40 patients with invasive locoregional breast cancer were examined for immunological cell surface markers (E, EAhuman, EAox, EAC, SIg pos.). Concomitantly, blood lymphocytes from 36 healthy women and axillary and mesenteric lymph-nodes from patients without malignant diseases were tested as controls. In peripheral blood of tumor patients E rosette-forming cells were slightly diminished as compared to the control group, whereas EAox and EAC rosette-forming cells were increased. These differences may be age-dependent rather than tumor-related. In the draining lymph nodes of breast cancer patients as well as in the control lymph nodes, the percentages of EAC rosette-forming cells and SIg positive lymphocytes were significantly increased compared to peripheral blood, whereas E and EAhuman rosette values remained unchanged. Percentages of EAox rosettes on the other hand were strongly diminished in the draining lymph nodes, suggesting that the EAhuman and EAox rosetting techniques detect 2 types of Fc-receptor bearing cells. No significant differences were found between the cell surface marker analysis of tumor-free and metastatic lymph nodes of breast cancer patients and the control lymph nodes.

Profile of Immune Cells in Axillary Lymph Nodes Predicts Disease-Free Survival in Breast Cancer

“…Four patients had SLNs containing isolated tumor cells (0.2 mm or smaller) detected by only IHC—these patients developed disease recurrence, supporting the clinical significance of IHC-only positive SLNs [6,7,29]. As in other studies, mesenteric nodes from patients with benign disease were used as comparisons, since axillary nodes are rarely excised for nonmalignant conditions [22–24]; immune profile of control nodes paralleled literature standards [23,24]. Importantly, new computer-based imaging techniques provided high-resolution image acquisition of the entire nodal surface.…”

“…However, current clinical practice involves only histological examination of such nodes for the presence or absence of tumor, largely ignoring the immunological nature of lymph nodes in cancer. As the systemic immune response is clearly influenced by tumor progression, immune profile changes in early sites of immune system-cancer interactions, i.e., tumor-draining nodes, may represent a sensitive indicator of tumor metastasis [10,16,22]. More significantly, the nature of such immunological changes may provide additional biological and prognostic information.…”

“…SLNs and ALNs from patients within training set SLN series 2, training set ALN series 2, and the test set were randomly selected using the sample function in R [21]. As performed in prior studies to provide an average immune profile, ten control nodes—a single mesenteric node per control individual—were similarly examined from patients with benign disease without a history of malignancy or immune disorder [22–24]. All samples were collected from Stanford Department of Pathology Specimen Bank as coded specimens under a protocol approved by the Stanford University Medical Center Institutional Review Board.…”

Characterisation of breast cancer infiltrates using monoclonal antibodies to human leucocyte antigens

“…Among the experimental techniques which have been used to establish immunological competence are delayed hypersensitivity to skin test antigens (Stein et al, 1976), lymphoproliferative responses (Dean et al, 1979;Jerrells et al, 1978), numbers of leucocytes in peripheral blood (Keller et al, 1976) and the histological appearance of the local lymph node (Cutler et al, 1969;Heidenrich et al, 1979).…”

The contribution of regional lymph nodes in the resistance against breast cancer: Practical implications

“…On the other hand, some functional studies argue against a major role of RLN in man. Heidenreich and co-workers [34], for example, found no major differences in various surface lymphocyte markers between lymphocytes of RLN, lymphocytes of peripheral blood, and those from lymph nodes of other regions. Likewise, a very low killer-cell activity was found unexpectedly by Eremin and co-workers [35] in RLN of stage I and I1 breast cancer patients, although this activity tested in peripheral blood lymphocytes did not differ between those same patients and healthy controls.…”