The Peripheral Immune Landscape of Breast Cancer: Clinical Findings and In Vitro Models for Biomarker Discovery

Abstract

Breast cancer is the deadliest female malignancy worldwide and, while much is known about phenotype and function of infiltrating immune cells, the same attention has not been paid to the peripheral immune compartment of breast cancer patients. To obtain faster, cheaper, and more precise monitoring of patients’ status, it is crucial to define and analyze circulating immune profiles. This review compiles and summarizes the disperse knowledge on the peripheral immune profile of breast cancer patients, how it departs from healthy individuals and how it changes with disease progression. We propose this data to be used as a starting point for validation of clinically relevant biomarkers of disease progression and therapy response, which warrants more thorough investigation in patient cohorts of specific breast cancer subtypes. Relevant clinical findings may also be explored experimentally using advanced 3D cellular models of human cancer–immune system interactions, which are under intensive development. We review the latest findings and discuss the strengths and limitations of such models, as well as the future perspectives. Together, the scientific advancement of peripheral biomarker discovery and cancer–immune crosstalk in breast cancer will be instrumental to uncover molecular mechanisms and putative biomarkers and drug targets in an all-human setting.

A Novel Risk Model Based on Lipid Metabolism-Associated Genes Predicts Prognosis and Indicates Immune Microenvironment in Breast Cancer

“…As one of the deadliest malignancies in women, BRCA has always been a serious public health issue and imposes a huge burden on humankind worldwide ( Harbeck and Gnant, 2017 ; Batalha et al, 2021 ). Although the prognosis has improved significantly with the development of medical technology, the 5-year overall survival of patients with advanced BRCA is still far from satisfactory ( Harbeck and Gnant, 2017 ; Tian et al, 2020 ).…”

“…The functional roles of the various immune cells differ. Usually, CD8 T cells, CD4 T cells, dendritic cells, B cells, and NK cells exert anti-tumor functions, regulatory T cells play a pro-tumor role, and macrophages and monocytes play equivocal roles in the progression of tumor progression ( Chimal-Ramírez et al, 2013 ; Zhang and Zhang, 2020 ; Batalha et al, 2021 ). Results of TIMER in clustered and risk model-stratified subgroups are not completely consistent in this study, especially CD8 T cell, which is worth further investigation.…”

Pharmacologic Management of Persistent Pain in Cancer Survivors

“…As inflammatory processes and the pain experience are different in males and females [85][86][87][88], this work needs to be done in both sexes and validated across various model systems and patient populations. In particular, this should include pre-clinical cancer models, as tumours themselves have immunomodulatory properties that are likely to be relevant [37,89]. Current evidence suggests that although divergent mechanisms underlie the development of CIPN, the degenerative pathways they trigger are comparable.…”

Microbiota and the Immune System—Actors in the Gastric Cancer Story

“… Characteristics of changes occurring within immunogenic GC subtypes (based on [ 69 , 70 ]) Abbreviations: CDH1—cadherin 1; RHOA—Ras homolog family member A; CLDN18—claudin 18; ARID1A—AT-rich interaction domain 1A; TP53—tumor protein P53; KRAS—Kirsten rat sarcoma virus; PIK3A—phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate 3-kinase catalytic subunit alpha; PD-L1—programmed death-ligand 1; PD-L2—programmed death-ligand 2; JAK2—Janus kinase 2; VEGF—vascular endothelial growth factor; RTK-RAS—receptor tyrosine kinase-Ras. …”