Programmed cell death protein 1 is a marker for neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in triple-negative breast cancer

OBJECTIVE: Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes are detectable in up to 75% of triple-negative breast cancer. The composition of these infiltrates may influence prognosis and is not known regarding regulatory or effector lymphocytes. The objectives of this study were to describe and quantify the composition of the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes before and after chemotherapy (neoadjuvant chemotherapy) and to evaluate their association with complete pathological response and overall survival. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational study. Clinical and pathological data from 38 triple-negative breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy at the University Hospital (HUCFF/UFRJ), between November 2004 and November 2018, were analyzed. The Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (Stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes) have been identified on hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections according to the guidelines of the “International tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes Working Group.” Immunohistochemistry studies were performed to identify T-cell subsets (i.e., CD3, CD4, CD8, and FOXP3) and T-cell exhaustion (i.e., programmed cell death protein 1). RESULTS: Statistically significant changes in stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte categories were observed before and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with 32% of intermediate cases becoming high. The correlation between pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and pathological response, pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and overall survival was not statistically significant. However, we noticed an increase of cells that favor the antitumor activity (i.e., CD3, CD8, and CD8/FOXP3 ratio) and decreased levels of cells inhibiting tumor activities (i.e., FOXP3 and programmed cell death protein 1) post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Importantly, programmed cell death protein 1 expression pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy showed an association with pathological response. CONCLUSION: In this study, we observed that chemotherapy significantly increases stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, CD8 T cells, as well as CD8/FoxP3 ratio. Most importantly, programmed cell death protein 1 expression before neoadjuvant chemotherapy positively correlates with pathological response suggesting the use of programmed cell death protein 1 as a prognostic marker before neoadjuvant chemotherapy.