Targeting immune pathways in breast cancer: review of the prognostic utility of TILs in early stage triple negative breast cancer (TNBC)

Abstract

Breast cancer has been one of the last tumor types to see benefit from immunotherapies. Yet, immune infiltrates have been noticed for decades in primary breast cancers. Lately, quantity of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) have been reported to have strong prognostic value in improving estimates of distant recurrence-free survival, disease-free and overall survival in early-stage triple negative BC (TNBC) treated with standard adjuvant/neoadjuvant chemotherapy (Level 1B evidence). Quantity, as a percentage of tumor stromal infiltration, is based on an evaluation by pathologists using light microscopy on H&E stained glass slides (see method at www.tilsinbreastcancer.org) [1,2] at time of ..