Infiltrating T Lymphocytes And T Helper Cytokines Expression Differ In Invasive Micropapillary Carcinoma, Medullary Carcinoma And Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Of Breast

In our previous studies,we have demonstrated that the infiltrating CD8+T lymphocytes in invasive micropapillary carcinoma(IMPC) were defective.The mechanisms were still poorly understood.In view of the role of regulatory signals provided by CD4~+T helper(Th) cell required for priming of CD8~+T lymphocytes,in the current study,we characterized immunophenotype of infiltrating T cells and examine the expression of Th cytokine in IMPC(n=61),medullary carcinoma(MC, n=27) and invasive ductal carcinoma,not otherwise specified(IDC-NOS,n=71). Three T-cell markers including CD3,CD4,CD8,and four Th cytokines including interleukin-2(IL-2),interferon-gamma(IFN-γ),interleukin-4(IL-4),and interleukin-10(IL-10) were tested by immunohistochemical analysis on paraffin sections.We found that in IMPC and MC groups,most of the T lymphocytes were CD8~+ T cells,but in IDC-NOS groups,the predominant T lymphocytes were CD4~+ T cells.The lowest expression levels of IL-2 and IFN-γwere found in IMPC group, moderate in IDC-NOS group,and the highest in MC group,while the expression of IL-4,the highest level was in the IDC-NOS group,moderate in the IMPC group and the lowest in the MC group.Furthermore,expression of IL-4 was positively associated with tumor size and histological grade of IMPC.However,we did not found significant differences in IL-10 expression among the three groups.We concluded that the composition of T lymphocytes and cytokines expression are different in the three types of breast carcinomas examined,which may be responsible for the difference in their biologic behavior.