Association Between The Ratio Of Mesenchymal Cells Or Macrophages To Tumor Cells In Lymphovascular Invasion And Clinical-pathologic Features And Prognosis In Lymph Node-ppositive Early Breast Cancer

Objectie: To investigate the association between the ratio of mesenchymal cells to tumor cells or macrophages to tumor cells in lymphovascular invasion(LVI)and clinical-pathologic features and prognosis in early lymph node-positive breast cancer.Methods:We collected paraffin-fixed cancer tissue specimens from 167 patients who had operable pathologic T1-4 N1-3 M0 breast cancer with median follow-up period of4.6 years.All patients underwent surgical treatment of breast cancer.Immunohistochemistry was used to identify mesenchymal cells or macrophages in LVI.Statistical analysis was used to examine the relationship between the ratio of mesenchymal cells or macrophages to tumor cells in LVI and clinical-pathologic features and the prognosis of breast cancer patients.Results : Vimentin protein mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of mesenchymal cells including fibroblasts,lymphocytes et al.CD68 protein mainly expressed in the cytoplasm of macrophages and monocytes.The ratio of mesenchymal cells to tumor cells was positively correlated with histological grade,tumor size,number of lymph node metastasis,tumor pathologic stage and LVI,the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05),however,the ratio was independent of expression of ER,PR,HER2,Ki67 and nerve invasion.The ratio of macrophages to tumor cells positively correlated with histological grade,tumor size,number of lymph node metastasis,tumor pathologic stage,LVI,expression of ER,HER2 and nerve invasion,the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05),while was not correlated with PR and Ki67 expression.After Ward method and ANOVA analysis,the ratio of mesenchymal cells to tumor cells was most significantly related to number of lymph node metastasis and tumor pathologic stage,the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05),and the correlation between the ratio of macrophages to tumor cells and ER expression was significant,the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).The patients with high ratio of mesenchymal cells or macrophages to tumor cells in lymphovascular invasion of early lymph node-positive breast cancer showed worse DFS(P<0.01 both).