BACKGROUND: Breast cancer (BC) is a heterogeneous disease, and patients with apparently similar clinicopathological characteristics in clinical practice show different outcome. This study evaluated in primary BCs and in the subgroup of the triple-negative breast cancers (TNBCs) the level of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), Na⁺/H⁺ exchanger regulatory factor 1 (NHERF1) expression, and their association respect to the clinical outcome of patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: NHERF1 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry in 338 BC samples; the analysis of TILs was examined using hematoxylin and eosin stained slides, according to International TILs Working Group 2014. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis identified TILs as an independent prognostic factor for DFS in the entire cohort and in the TNBC subgroup (HR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.12–0.87; P = 0.026; and HR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.06–0.80; P = 0.022, respectively). Univariate and survival analysis by Kaplan–Meier method revealed that patients with cytoplasmic (c) NHERF1^-/TILs⁺ expression had better DFS than other patients (P = 0.049), and this result was also found in the TNBC subgroup (P = 0.031). Moreover, TNBC patients with cNHERF1⁻/TILs⁻ expression had a worse DFS and OS than other patients (P = 0.057 and P = 0.002, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: In the complex scenario of BC and in the era of tumor immunogenicity and immunotherapy, we found an association of TIL levels and cNHERF1 expression that could be useful to identify BCs and particularly TNBC patients with different prognosis and clinical outcome.

背景：乳腺癌（BC）是一种异质性疾病，临床实践中具有明显相似临床病理特征的患者表现出不同的结局。这项研究评估了原发性BC和三阴性乳腺癌（TNBC）的亚组中肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞（TIL）的水平，Na ⁺ / H ⁺交换调节因子1（NHERF1）的表达及其与肿瘤的相关性。患者的临床结果。材料与方法：采用免疫组化方法检测了338 BC样本中NHERF1的表达。根据国际TILs工作组2014，使用苏木精和曙红染色的玻片检查了TILs的分析。结果：多变量分析确定TILs是整个队列和TNBC亚组DFS的独立预后因素（HR，0.32； 95％CI，0.12-0.87；P  = 0.026； HR，0.22； 95％CI，0.06-0.80；P 分别为0.022）。单变量和通过Kaplan-Meier法生存分析显示患者细胞质（C）NHERF1 ^- /的TIL ⁺表达具有比其他患者（更好DFS P  = 0.049），而这一结果也被用在TNBC亚组发现（P  = 0.031） 。此外，TNBC患者cNHERF1 ^- / TIL的^-表达具有比其他患者（更差的DFS和OS P  = 0.057和P 分别为0.002）。结论：在复杂的BC以及肿瘤免疫原性和免疫疗法时代，我们发现TIL水平与cNHERF1表达之间的关联可能有助于鉴定具有不同预后和临床结局的BC，尤其是TNBC患者。