Immune and gene-expression profiling in estrogen receptor low and negative early breast cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The cutoff of <1% positive cells to define estrogen receptor (ER) negativity by immunohistochemistry (IHC) in breast cancer (BC) is debated. We explored the tumor immune microenvironment and gene-expression profile of patients with early-stage HER2-negative ER-low (ER 1%-9%) BC, comparing them to ER-negative (ER <1%) and ER-intermediate (ER 10%-50%) tumors.

Methods

Among 921 patients with early-stage I-III, ER ≤50%, HER2-negative BCs, tumors were classified as ER-negative (n = 712), ER-low (n = 128), or ER-intermediate (n = 81). Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) were evaluated. CD8+, FOXP3+ cells, and PD-L1 status were assessed by IHC and quantified by digital pathology. We analyzed 776 BC-related genes in 116 samples. All tests were 2-sided at a <.05 signific

SUBMITTER: Massa D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11630536 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature