High IRF8 expression correlates with CD8 T cell infiltration and is a predictive biomarker of therapy response in ER negative breast cancer

GERARDO GATTI1,7, COURTNEY BETTS2, DARÍO RCHA, MARIBEL NICOLA1, VERÓNICA GRUPE, CECILIA DITADA; NICOLAS G. NUÑEZ; EMILIANO ROSELLI; PAULA ARAYA, JEREMÍAS DUTTO, LUCIA BOFFELLI, ELMER FERNÁNDEZ, LISA M. COUSSENS, MARIANA MACCION

BREAST CANCER RESEARCH

BIOMED CENTRAL LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2021

1465-5411

Characterization of breast cancer (BC) through the determination of conventional markers such as ER, PR, HER2 and Ki67 has been useful as a predictive and therapeutic tool. Also, assessment of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes has been proposed as an important prognostic aspect to be considered in certain BC subtypes. However, there is still a need to identify additional biomarkers that could add precision in distinguishing therapeutic response of individual patients. To this end, we focused in the expression of Interferon regulatory factor 8 (IRF8) in BC cells. IRF8 is a transcription factor which plays a well determined role in myeloid cells and that seems to have multiple antitumoral roles: it has tumor suppressor functions; it acts downstream IFN/STAT1 , required for the success of some therapeutic regimes and its expression in neoplastic cells seems to depend on a cross talk between the immune contexture and the tumor cells. The goal of the present study was to examine the relationship between IRF8 with the therapeutic response and the immune contexture in BC, since its clinical significance in this type of cancer has not been thoroughly addressed.