STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMMUNOHISTOLOGICALLY DEMONSTRATED LYMPHOCYTES INFILTRATING HUMAN BREAST CARCINOMAS AND PATIENTS SURVIVAL

Eighty-five breast carcinomas were immunostained for CD3-, CD4-, CD8-, CD16-, CD22-, CD38- and CD57-positive lymphocyte subpopulations. The results were related to follow-up data (median follow-up 46 months) of 74 patients regarding overall survival and 73 patients in respect to disease-free survival. Whereas the number of axillary lymph node metastases (P < 0.01) and the hormone receptor status (P < 0.01) resulted in significantly different survival curves for overall survival, not one of the lymphocyte subset infiltrates correlated significantly with overall survival. For disease-free survival, pT stage (P < 0.01) and nodal (P < 0.01) and hormone receptor status (P < 0.05) proved to be prognostically important. However, disease-free survival was not influenced by the infiltration of any lymphocyte subset.