Associations between absolute neutrophil count and lymphocyte-predominant breast cancer

Abstract

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) might be associated with host-cell mediated immunity, which could be partly reflected by peripheral blood cell counts. We aimed to investigate whether peripheral blood cell counts are associated with TILs in breast cancer. Between August 2016 and July 2018, we evaluated the percentage of stromal TILs in breast cancer patients who underwent primary surgery, using the standardized methodology proposed by the international TIL Working Group. Lymphocyte-predominant breast cancer (LPBC) was defined as tumors having high TIL levels ([≥] 50%). Peripheral blood cell counts including absolute neutrophil counts (ANC), absolute lymphocyte counts (ALC) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was obtained from pretreatment laboratory data. Of the 684 patients, 99 (17.2%) had LPBC, and 478 (82.8%) had non-LBPC. In a comparison of 3 markers of peripheral blood counts, LPBC had a significantly lower mean ANC than non-LPBC (3,330 vs. 3,660; P=0.004), but the other means were not different. Decreasing ANC was an independent clinical factor in predicting LPBC (OR: 0.736, 95% CI: 0.591-0.917; P=0.004). Low peripheral ANC might be linked with LPBC, supporting the hypothesis that systemic immune cell counts might be associated with the tumor-immune microenvironment.