Is the spontaneous anti-tumor T cell response of breast carcinoma patients a clinical prognostic factor ?
Several retrospective studies suggest a
correlation between the survival of patients with ovarian or
colorectal carcinoma and infiltration of their tumors by
immune cells. So far, prospective data validating these
observations do not exist. In collaboration with Dr Javier
Carrasco (Grand Hôpital de Charleroi) and Dr Jean-Pascal
Machiels (Cliniques Universitaires St-Luc), we set out a
prospective study aimed at looking for a correlation between
the clinical outcome of patients with non-metastatic breast
carcinoma and their spontaneous anti-tumor T cell response.
Considering our experience in quantitative approaches to
detect very weak T cell responses in the blood of melanoma
patients, Danièle Godelaine set out the evaluation of the
frequencies of anti-tumor CD8 T lymphocytes in the blood of
breast cancer patients recruited in the two clinical centers.
Frequencies are evaluated by mixed lymphocyte-peptide
cultures, carried out with HLA-A2 and A3-restricted peptides
derived from HER2/neu and hTERT, two proteins usually
overexpressed in breast tumors, followed by detection of
specific cells with HLA-peptide tetramers. Blood samples are
collected before and after surgery. Tumors removed at surgery
are analyzed by immunohistology for infiltration by immune
cells, and fragments are frozen for further analysis.
This prospective study foresees to include 172 patients whose
clinical evolution will be followed up over a 5-year period.
So far, 25 patients have been included. Eight of them have a
frequency against the targeted antigens ranging from 10-5 and
10-6 among blood CD8 T cells, whereas the frequency in
healthy donors blood was estimated to be lower than 5x10-7.
We hope to identify the patients with a better prognosis in
order to offer them an adapted care avoiding unnecessary
heavy treatments.
< back