J Breast Cancer.  2019 Mar;22(1):29-37. 10.4048/jbc.2019.22.e15.

Circulating Plasmacytoid and Myeloid Dendritic Cells in Breast Cancer Patients: A Pilot Study

• Paek SH
• Kim HG
• Lee JW
• Woo J
• Kwon H
• Kim JB
• Lim W
• Kim JR
• Moon BI
• Paik NS

• KMID: 2441849
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4048/jbc.2019.22.e15

Abstract

PURPOSE
Dendritic cells (DC) are a class of bone marrow-derived cells found in the blood, epithelia, and lymphoid tissues, and are the most efficient antigen presenting cells. The number and function of DC can change dramatically in cancer patients. The aim of this study is to correlate the levels of circulating DC subsets with clinical characteristics in breast cancer patients.
METHODS
Peripheral blood samples were collected from 53 untreated breast cancer patients before surgery between January 2013 and November 2013. Forty-one healthy, age-matched volunteers served as the control group. The phenotypes of circulating plasmacytoid DCs (pDCs) and myeloid DCs (mDCs) were determined using fluorescence activated cell sorting assays. Correlations between DCs immunophenotypes and clinicopathologic characteristics of these breast cancer patients were then determined.
RESULTS
Patients with breast cancer had higher levels of pDCs (p = 0.046). No relationships were observed with tumor stage and intrinsic subtype. Estrogen receptor (ER) positive patients had higher levels of mDCs than ER negative patients (p = 0.025) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) positive patients had higher levels of pDCs than HER-2 (p = 0.040). No relationships were observed with T stage, N stage, Ki67 index, histologic grade, nuclear grade, and lymphovascular invasion. In multiple regression analysis, patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer had higher levels of pDCs than HER-2 negative patients (p = 0.026).
CONCLUSION
An increase of pDCs in the peripheral blood of breast cancer patients was observed and patients with HER-2 positive breast cancer had higher levels of circulating pDCs than did HER-2 negative patients. Our results suggest that expression of DCs can differ according to breast cancer subtype and indicate that, with further investigation, DC expression has the possibility of being presented as a prognostic factor.

Keyword

Breast Neoplasm; Dendritic Cells; HER-2 Gene; Myeloid Dendritic Cells; Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells

MeSH Terms

Antigen-Presenting Cells
Breast Neoplasms*
Breast*
Dendritic Cells*
Estrogens
Flow Cytometry
Genes, erbB-2
Humans
Lymphoid Tissue
Phenotype
Pilot Projects*
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor
Volunteers
Estrogens
Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor

Figure

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  Figure 1 Expression of CD1c (mDC) and CD303 (pDC). Expression of CD1c and CD303 in blood was determined by flow cytometry. mDC = myeloid dendritic cells; pDC = plasmacytoid dendritic cells; APC = allophycocyanin.

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