Objective To investigate the proportions of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and mutant of p53 gene in the microenvironment of breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma, and to explore its’ correlation with prognosis of breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Methods Eighty-five cases of breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma were collected who underwent surgery in the 371st Central Hospital of Peoples’ Liberation Army from 2010 to 2012, and then detected the proportion of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells, ratio of CD4+ T cells to CD8+ T cells, and mutant of p53 gene in the cancer tissues with immunohistochemistry. Comparison between the sentinel lymph node metastasis group and non-sentinel lymph node metastasis group, mutant of p53 gene group and non-mutant of p53 gene group on the proportions of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and ratio of CD4+ T cells to CD8+ T cells were performed, as well as the relationship between proportion of CD8+ T cells/mutant of p53 gene and prognosis of breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Results ① The relationship between proportion of CD4+ T cells/proportion of CD8+ T cells/ratio of CD4+ T cells to CD8+ T cells and situation of sentinel lymph node metastasis: at cluster, compared with the sentinel lymph node metastasis group, the proportion of CD8+ T cells was lower in the non-sentinel lymph node metastasis group (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference on the proportion of CD4+ T cells and ratio of CD4+ T cells to CD8+ T cells (P>0.05); at stroma, compared with the sentinel lymph node metastasis group, the proportions of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells were lower, but the ratio of CD4+ T cells to CD8+ T cells was higher in the non-sentinel lymph node metastasis group (P<0.05). ② The relationship between proportion of CD4+ T cells/proportion of CD8+ T cells/ratio of CD4+ T cells to CD8+ T cells and mutant of p53 gene: both at the cluster and stroma, compared with the mutant of p53 gene group, the proportions of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells were lower, but the ratio of CD4+ T cells to CD8+ T cells was higher in the non-mutant of p53 gene group (P<0.05). ③ The relationship between proportion of CD8+ T cells/mutant of p53 gene and prognosis of breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma: the prognosis was worse in patients with high degree of infiltration of CD8+ T cells and mutant of p53 gene than those patients with low degree of infiltration of CD8+ T cells and non-mutant of p53 gene (P<0.05). Conclusions The proportions of CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cells, and ratio of CD4+ T cells to CD8+ T cells are associated with the situation of sentinel lymph node metastasis and mutant of p53 gene, and the degree of infiltration of CD8+ T cells and mutant of p53 gene are associated with the prognosis of breast infiltrating ductal carcinoma.
ObjectiveTo investigate the metastatic status and risk factors of axillary non-sentinel lymph node (NSLN) in breast cancer patients with 1–2 positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLN), and to provide theoretical basis for exemption of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in these patients. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 54 patients diagnosed with breast cancer who underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) and confirmed to have 1–2 positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLNS) and received ALND in the Department of Thyroid and Breast Surgery of Tongling People’s Hospital from January 2018 to April 2023. The patients were divided into NSLN metastatic group (17 cases) and NSLN non-metastatic group (37 cases) according to whether there was metastasis. Chi-square test was used to compare the basic information and clinicpathological features of the two groups. The independent risk factors for axillary NSLN metastasis were screened out by multivariate binary logistic regression model. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of independent risk factors combined with axillary NSLN metastasis. Results There were 54 cases with 1–2 metastasis of SLN, 17 cases with axillary NSLN metastasis (31.5%). The incidence of axillary NSLN metastasis in patients with tumor at T1 stage (maximum diameter ≤2 cm) was only 14.3% (4/28), however, the metastatic rate of axillary NSLN in patients with tumor in T2–T3 stage (maximum diameter >2 cm) was as high as 50.0% (13/26). The axillary NSLN metastasis rate was only 21.2% (7/33) with 1 SLN metastasis, while the axillary NSLN metastasis rate was 47.6% (10/21) with 2 SLN metastasis. Univariate analysis showed that T stage (tumor diameter >2 cm), 2 SLN metastases, number of SLN >5 and tumor with vascular embolus were more likely to develop axillary NSLN metastases (P<0.05). Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis showed that T stage (tumor diameter >2 cm) and 2 SLN metastases were independent risk factors for axillary NSLN metastasis in breast cancer patients, the area under ROC curve of combined prediction of axillary NSLN metastasis by the two was 0.747, 95%CI was (0.657, 0.917), sensitivity was 0.765 and specificity was 0.649. Conclusions The combination of tumor T stage and the number of SLN metastases can better predict axillary NSLN metastasis in breast cancer patients. ALND is recommended for breast cancer patients with T stage (tumor diameter >2 cm) and 2 SLN metastases to reduce the risk of residual axillary NSLN metastasis.