Prognostic Significance of Circulating CD28 Negative Suppressor T Cells and Memory B Cells in Patients with Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND It has been suggested that routine assessment and quantification of different lymphocyte subsets can provide clinically meaningful prognostic information in breast cancer (BC). OBJECTIVE To determine the relationship between peripheral blood lymphocyte subsets and pathological parameters and response to therapy in patients with BC. METHODS Thirty patients with operable breast cancer treated surgically with either modified radical mastectomy or breast conservative surgery, and 20 healthy controls were included. For detection of lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood; Fluorochrome-labeled monoclonal antibodies were used andcells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Patients were treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormonal treatment, and followed up to determine relapse and recurrence-free survival (RFS). RESULTS Significant differences were found in the frequencies of B, T, NK, NKT, and CD28‒T cells between patients with BC and controls. Moreover, a significant difference was found in the percentage of CD8+CD28‒ T cells between patients with different pathologic subtypes of BC and negative correlations were observed between the frequency of CD8+CD28‒T cells and memory B cells, and RFS. Also, a significant difference in the frequency of naive B cells was found in patients with different tumor grades and a negative correlation was found between the frequencies of B cells and NKT cells. CONCLUSION NK, NKT, lymphocytes, and CD28‒ T cells significantly differed between healthy controls and BC patients. Also, memory B cells were associated with good response to treatment while CD28‒ T cells were associated with shorter RFS.