An exploratory study on CPS and TILs expression levels in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer and their predictive value for neoadjuvant therapy response
ZHOU Si-cheng
LIANG Li
LI Dong
XIN Ling
Abstract：Objective To investigate the programmed cell death ligand-1(PD-L1)combined positive score(CPS)and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes(TILs)levels in early-stage triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC),and to explore their predictive value for neoadjuvant therapy response.Methods The clinicopathological data and follow-up information of early-stage triple-negative breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant therapy in Peking University First Hospital during January 2016 to December 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.A total of 2183 newly diagnosed early breast cancer patients were treated,of which 259(11.9％)had TNBC.Fifty-seven patients were included in the study.DAKO murine anti-human monoclonal antibody(clone number:22C3)was used as the test kit to detect CPS,and TILs percentage was evaluated in accordance with the procedure recommended by the TILs International Working Group Breast Cancer Evaluation Guidelines.Define CPS≥l0 as positive CPS and TILs＞10％as moderate to high level.Results There were 26 patients(45.6％)with positive CPS and 38 patients(66.7％)with moderate to high level of TILs,of which 24 cases had both positive CPS and moderate to high level of TILs.There was a significant correlation between positive CPS and moderate to high level of TILs(P＜0.001).Twelve patients(21％)achieved pathological complete response(pCR)after neoadjuvant therapy.There were 9 patients(34.6％),11(28.9％)and 8 patients(33.3％)with positive CPS,moderate to high level of TILs,and both positive CPS and moderate to high level of TILs achieved pCR after neoadjuvant therapy.Logistic multivariate analysis showed that CPS≥10 was significantly associated with pCR after neoadjuvant therapy(P=0.042).The median follow-up time was 48.5 months.Multivariate COX regression analysis showed that lymph node positive(P=0.002)and TILs＞30％(P=0.038)were independent prognostic factors affecting 3-year recurrence-free survival rate.Conclusion Nearly half of TNBC patients had both positive CPS and moderate to high level of TILs,and there was a significant correlation between CPS and TILs levels,both of which had predictive value for pCR and prognosis after neoadjuvant therapy.
Keywords：triple-negative breast cancerneoadjuvant therapyprogrammed death receptor ligand-1(PD-L1)combined positive score(CPS)tumor infiltrating lymphocytes(TILs)pathological complete responseprognosis
Publication Date：2024-03-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 335-340,345 )