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Differential regulation and function of tumor-infiltrating T cells in different stages of breast cancer patients

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Tumor Biology

Abstract

Breast cancer survival was associated with higher frequencies of CD8+ T cytotoxic T cells in infiltrating lymphocytes. On the other hand, the frequency of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ regulatory T cells was inversely correlated with clinical outcomes of breast cancer. The regulation and interaction of different types of tumor-infiltrating T cells in different stages of breast cancer patients are still unclear. In this study, we examined the functions and regulations of CD8+ T cells and CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ T cells from resected tumors from 12 stage I, 24 stage II, and 20 stage III untreated breast cancer patients. We found that tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells from stage III patients were more refractory to T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation than those from stage I and stage II patients in terms of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) production and proliferation. On the other hand, tumor-infiltrating CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ T cells had higher proliferation in stage III tumors than in stage I and stage II tumors. In addition, we found that tumor-infiltrating CD4+CD25+ T cells can suppress CD8+ T cell inflammation ex vivo. Altogether, our data demonstrated that stage III tumors in breast cancer patients had a more immunosuppressive microenvironment.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Zhan at BGC Biotechnology Research Center for assisting in data analysis.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Breast Surgery, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, 20 Yuhuangding East Road, Yantai, Shandong, 264000, China

      Shiguang Zhu, Jun Lin, Guangdong Qiao & Haidong Zou

    2. Reproductive Center, Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital, Yantai, Shandong, 264000, China

      Yanping Xu

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    1. Shiguang Zhu
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    2. Jun Lin
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    3. Guangdong Qiao
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    4. Yanping Xu
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    5. Haidong Zou
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    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Haidong Zou.

    Additional information

    Shiguang Zhu and Jun Lin contributed equally to this work.

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    Zhu, S., Lin, J., Qiao, G. et al. Differential regulation and function of tumor-infiltrating T cells in different stages of breast cancer patients. Tumor Biol. 36, 7907–7913 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3507-y

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-015-3507-y

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