The associations between mast cell infiltration, clinical features and molecular types of invasive breast cancer

Abstract

Associations between mast cell infiltration and the clinical features and known molecular profile of breast cancer remain unclear. The distribution difference of mast cell was evaluated, in 219 patients with no special type of invasive carcinoma, using sorts of age, max diameter of cancer, histological type, lymph node metastasis as well as the expressions of estrogen receptor (ER), progestogen receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) and nuclear protein Ki67. The mast cell density (MCD) in patients younger than 50 years old was significantly higher than that in patients with age ≥ 50. The MCD in ER or PR positive patients was significantly higher than MCD in ER or PR negative patients. The MCD in patients with Ki67 ≤ 14% was also significantly higher than MDC in patients with Ki67 > 14%. The MCD of patients with invasive ductal carcinoma was significantly higher than MCD of patients with invasive lobular carcinoma. No significant distribution difference of MCD was found to be associated with max diameter of cancer, lymph node metastasis and HER-2. Further analysis found that MDC was significantly higher in patients after neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. The distribution difference of mast cell widely exists in patients with distinct clinical features, the role of mast cell in breast cancer need further research with detailed and reasonable classification to clarify.

Mast Cells as an Indicator and Prognostic Marker in Molecular Subtypes of Breast Cancer

“…tumorigenic molecules (e.g., TNF-α and IL-90), thus, their role on breast cancer is controversial (5). Some scholars believe that mast cell infiltration suggests a good prognosis of breast cancer: similar to our results, three other groups have observed high MCs density in luminal A and B types of breast cancer, which can be hormonally treated and have a better prognosis (6,10,17). This suggests that MCs are associated with less aggressive tumors.…”

“…Some groups have concluded that the prognosis is worse with a higher density of mast cells in the breast cancer tissue (10). Xiang et al have observed more numerous peritumoral MCs in G3 breast cancers, increased tryptase being associated with higher tumor grade and more lymph node metastasis compared to lower grades.…”

“…Some reports have shown that the high number of MCs is associated with a good prognosis (6), while others have noticed their association with poor prognosis and distant metastasis (7)(8)(9). Some reports suggest that mast cells play a promoting role in the occurrence and development of malignant tumors (10,11). Based on the controversies found in the literature, in the present work we tried to answer whether MCs are of good or bad prognosis in breast cancer.…”

X chromosome‐linked long noncoding RNA lnc‐XLEC1 regulates c‐Myc‐dependent cell growth by collaborating with MBP‐1 in endometrial cancer

“…It has been reported that the percentage of Ki67 expression is closely related to the degree of differentiation, invasion, metastasis and prognosis of many tumors . As shown in Figure c , Ki67 immunostaining showed less proliferation in xenograft tumors of lncXLEC1‐ upregulated cells than in controls.…”

“…It has been reported that the percentage of Ki67 expression is closely related to the degree of differentiation, invasion, metastasis and prognosis of many tumors. 22 As shown in Figure 4c, Ki67 immunostaining showed less proliferation in xenograft tumors of lncXLEC1-upregulated cells than in controls. We categorized the endometrial tissues according to the percentage of Ki67 expression (>30%, strong staining and <30%, weak staining) and analyzed the expression of lnc-XLEC1 in 30 EC tissues.…”