Clinical relevance of systemic monocytic-MDSCs in patients with metastatic breast cancer

The overall aim of this prospective study was to delineate the role of monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (Mo-MDSCs) in patients with metastatic breast cancer (MBC). MDSCs are a heterogeneous group of immunosuppressive cells often enriched in different malignancies which hold prognostic and predictive value for clinical outcomes. Here, we assessed the clinical significance of Mo-MDSCs in 54 patients with de novo or distant recurrent MBC. We show that high levels of Mo-MDSCs significantly correlated with de novo MBC (metastatic disease at initial diagnosis), estrogen receptor (ER) negativity, and liver- and bone metastasis. A trend towards an association between high levels of Mo-MDSCs and survival (P = 0.053) was also found in patients with distant recurrent ER-positive MBC. We therefore propose that an increased population of Mo-MDSCs may be related to the metastatic or immunoregulatory switch associated with transition to a more systemic disease. Our data imply that high levels of systemic Mo-MDSCs represent patients with more aggressive disease and worse outcome. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00262-019-02472-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.