Immunoprofiling in Breast Cancer Microenvironment with Multiplexed Immunofluorescence

Abstract

Background The immunoprofiles in tumor microenvironment (TME) has established impacts on the tumorigenesis, metastasis, therapy sensitivity and prognosis in various solid tumors, including breast cancer. Regulation of local immune cell homeostasis is considered as a promising strategy for breast cancer therapy. Aim Comprehensively investigate the landscape of tumor-infiltrated immune cells in breast cancer and benign tissues, and provide novel evidence for potential immunotherapy strategies. Method A total of 140 pairs of breast cancer and benign tissues were collected and sectioned. The multiplexed immunofluorescence was applied to simultaneously analyze the immunoprofiles in breast cancer TME. Images were captured by AKOYA-Vectra 3 and analyzed with InForm 2.1 software. Results Comparing the general benign with malignant samples, the mean percentages of T cells (17.03% vs 14.85%, p=0.2329), B cells (6.406% vs 3.763%, p=0.0189), and macrophages (17.06% vs 27.1%, p=0.008) showed dramatic difference. In addition, we compared segmental areas, para-cancer with cancer tissues, different pathological and molecular types, and found that the main difference was the proportion of macrophages, especially the M2 subtype. Conclusion Macrophages and M2 subtype were the iconic differentiated infiltrating immune cells in breast cancer, especially related with the malignancy, clinic stages and tumorigenesis, which was the promising target in cancer therapy.