High neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and decreased CD69+NK cells represent a phenotype of high risk in early-stage breast cancer patients

MANDÓ, PABLO; RIZZO, MANGLIO; ROBERTI, MARÍA PAULA; JULIÁ, ESTEFANÍA PAULA; PAMPENA, MARÍA BETINA; DE LA PUENTE, CONSTANZA PÉREZ; LOZA, CARLOS MARTÍN; PONCE, CAROLINA; NADAL, JORGE; COLÓ, FEDERICO ANDRES; MORDOH, JOSÉ; LEVY, ESTRELLA MARIEL

OncoTargets and Therapy

Dove Medical Press Ltd.

Año: 2018 vol. 11 p. 2901 - 2910

Purpose: Breast cancer (BC) is a highly heterogeneous disease presenting a broad range of clinical and molecular characteristics. In the past years, a growing body of evidence demonstrated that immune response plays a significant role in cancer outcome. However, immune prognostic markers are not completely validated in clinical practice in BC patients. Materials and methods: With the aim to characterize immune features, several parameters were analyzed in peripheral blood at diagnosis of 85 nonmetastatic BC patients between April 2011 and July 2014. Results: With a median follow-up of 38.6 months, peripheral blood analysis of BC patients (stages I, II, and III) showed that total lymphocyte and T lymphocyte counts were augmented in nonrelapsed patients. Also, a higher neutrophil-to-lymphocytes ratio was associated with prolonged disease-free survival. Natural killer cell receptor analysis revealed that early activation receptor CD69 was associated with a better outcome. Conclusion: This preliminary evidence is in accordance with the concept of immune surveillance. We suggest an ?immune phenotype? that provides relevant prognostic information in early-stage BC patients and which could be useful in the decision-making process.