Macrophage infiltration of breast tumours: a prospective study.

In situ hybridisation and S1 mapping show that the presence of infiltrating plasma cells is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer

“…Since that time there have been numerojis additional conflicting rerports of associations between infiltration and for example favourable prognosis (Black et al, 1975;Dawson et al, 1982;Stenkvist et al, 1982), and poor prognosis (Roses et al, 1982;Fisher et al, 1983). However, a consistent theme in more recent studies has been the association of lymphoplasmacytic infiltration and histological features of poor prognosis such as poor grade, nuclear pleomorphism, tumour necrosis and lymph node invasion by tumour (Black et al, 1975;Lauder et al, 1977;Fisher et al, 1983;von Kleist et al, 1987;Zuk & Walker, 1987 Schoorl et al, 1976;Hsu et al, 1981;Hurlimann & Soraga, 1985;Lwin et al, 1985;von Kleist et al, 1987;Zuk & Walker, 1987 (1985) report that B cells can represent up to 48% of the total number of T cells, whilst Zuk and Walker (1987) provide evidence that the proportion of B cells increase relative to T cells in carcinoma as opposed to benign breast, with an overall B:T cell ratio as high as 1:2.…”

Macrophages in human breast disease: a quantitative immunohistochemical study

“…Although lymphocytes are prominent in the inflammatory infiltrate, macrophages are also present, often in considerable numbers (McBride, 1986;Steele et al 1985;Lwin, et al 1986). It has been suggested that the presence of macrophages may independently influence the outcome by affecting the metastatic potential of tumours (Lauder et al, 1977) and there is evidence from experimental animal tumours that this is so (Fidler & Poste, 1982;Eccles & Alexander, 1974; Wood & Gillespie, 1975). However, others have found otherwise; for example, in the case of murine mammary carcinoma (Nash et al, 1979).…”

Macrophage content and colony-forming potential in mouse mammary carcinomas

“…Of particular interest were reports of an inverse relationship between macrophage content and capacity for metastatic spread. Lauder (1977) noted from studies on human breast tumours that those which had already spread to other sites at the time of excision had fewer histochemically identifiable macrophages than those which had not. In addition, Eccles & Alexander (1974) reported that transplantable rat fibrosarcomas of high metastatic potential contain fewer macrophages than those incapable of dissemination, and Wood & Gillespie (1975) reported that depletion of macrophages from fibrosarcoma cell suspensions increased the incidence of metastasis from the reinoculation site.…”