Abstract 58P
Background
Soluble immune checkpoints (sICP) are protein molecules released from cancer or immune cells, involved in cancer cell survival, recurrence, therapy response, and breast cancer progression. This study aims to assess sICP status according to molecular subtypes in early-stage breast cancer patients and identify potential immunotherapeutic interventions for different molecular subtypes of breast cancer.
Methods
Tumor histological types, estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptor status, Ki-67 score obtained after histopathological examination of tru-cut biopsy samples of patients with stage 1/2 breast cancer. Patients were grouped as luminal A (LA), luminal B (LB), and triple negative (TN) according to the receptor status and age, blood cell counts, and menopausal status were noted. Blood samples were taken from all volunteers before any treatment and sICPs were measured.
Results
A total of 60 women, 45 of whom were breast cancer and 15 healthy volunteers, were included in the study. In addition, breast cancer patients were subgrouped as LA (n:15), LB (n:15) and TN (n:15). Breast cancer patients had significantly higher serum values of sCD27, TGF-β1, sTim-3 and sGaletin-9 in pg/ml (p:0.015, p:0.000, p:0.000, and p:0.024, respectively). s4-1 BB and sCD27 were significantly different between breast cancer molecular subtypes (p:0.039 and p:0.023, respectively). According to the subgroup analyzes to determine which groups caused the significant difference in the parameters; between LA and TN breast cancer, LB and TN breast cancer for parameter s4-1 BB (p:0.019 and p:0.041, respectively); between LA and TN breast cancer, LB and TN breast cancer for parameter sCD27 (p:0.030 and p:0.011, respectively).
Conclusions
The study suggests that evaluating soluble ICPs could be crucial in the success of immune checkpoint blocker (ICB) therapy for breast cancer patients, and the CD27-CD70 axis might be a potential option for ICB therapy in breast cancer. Further research is necessary to understand the implications of these findings and their potential impact on breast cancer treatment.
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.