Are Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Prognostic in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer?

The percentage of stromal TILs in the tumor environment was associated with improved disease-free and overall survival.

With the recent FDA approval of an immune checkpoint inhibitor (atezolizumab; NEJM JW Oncol Hematol Dec 2018 and N Engl J Med 2018; 379:2108) for patients with metastatic, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), understanding how the tumor interfaces with the immune system will become more relevant for clinicians. Although breast cancer is not generally thought of as a particularly immunogenic tumor, there are subsets of the disease (such as TNBC) that are associated with mutational changes that may activate the immune system.

One way to assess the activation of the immune system in this setting is to evaluate the presence of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs) in the tumor microenvironment, since prior small studies have suggested …

Reviewing Author

William J. Gradishar, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardLilly; AstraZeneca; Gilead

Grant/Research SupportBreast Cancer Research Foundation

Editorial BoardsClinical Breast Cancer; Oncology; Annals of Surgery; Breast Cancer Research and Treatment

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNational Comprehensive Cancer Network (Chair, Breast Cancer Panel); American Board of Internal Medicine (Medical Oncology Board)