Background Chemokine receptor CXC chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) and its ligand CXC motif chemokine 12 (CXCL12; stromal cell-derived factor-1) are implicated in tumor growth, metastasis, and tumor cell-microenvironment interaction. A number of studies have reported that increased CXCR4 expression is associated with worse prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), but its prognostic significance has not been studied in TNBC patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy.
Methods Two hundred eighty-three TNBC patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Tissue microarray was constructed from formalinfixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue and immunohistochemistry for CXCR4 and CXCL12 was performed. Expression of each marker was compared with clinicopathologic characteristics and outcome.
Results High cytoplasmic CXCR4 expression was associated with younger age (p = .008), higher histologic grade (p = .007) and lower pathologic stage (p = .045), while high CXCL12 expression was related to larger tumor size (p = .045), positive lymph node metastasis (p = .005), and higher pathologic stage (p = .017). The patients with high cytoplasmic CXCR4 experienced lower distant recurrence (p = .006) and better recurrence-free survival (RFS) (log-rank p = .020) after adjuvant chemotherapy. Cytoplasmic CXCR4 expression remained an independent factor of distant recurrence (p = .019) and RFS (p = .038) after multivariate analysis.
Conclusions High cytoplasmic CXCR4 expression was associated with lower distant recurrence and better RFS in TNBC patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. This is the first study to correlate high CXCR4 expression to better TNBC prognosis, and the underlying mechanism needs to be elucidated in further studies.
Citations
Citations to this article as recorded by
Distinct profiles of proliferating CD8+/TCF1+ T cells and CD163+/PD-L1+ macrophages predict risk of relapse differently among treatment-naïve breast cancer subtypes Konstantinos Ntostoglou, Sofia D. P. Theodorou, Tanja Proctor, Ilias P. Nikas, Sinclair Awounvo, Athanasia Sepsa, Vassilis Georgoulias, Han Suk Ryu, Ioannis S. Pateras, Christos Kittas Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy.2024;[Epub] CrossRef
Unravelling the CXCL12/CXCR4 Axis in breast cancer: Insights into metastasis, microenvironment interactions, and therapeutic opportunities Priyanka Garg, Venkateswara Rao Jallepalli, Sonali Verma Human Gene.2024; 40: 201272. CrossRef
New Emerging Chemokine Receptors: CCR5 or CXCR5 on Tumor Is Associated with Poor Response to Chemotherapy and Poor Prognosis in Locally Advanced Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Neslihan Cabioglu, Semen Onder, Hüseyin Karatay, Aysel Bayram, Gizem Oner, Mustafa Tukenmez, Mahmut Muslumanoglu, Abdullah Igci, Ahmet Dinccag, Vahit Ozmen, Adnan Aydiner, Pınar Saip, Ekrem Yavuz Cancers.2024; 16(13): 2388. CrossRef
Cancer-Associated-Fibroblast-Mediated Paracrine and Autocrine SDF-1/CXCR4 Signaling Promotes Stemness and Aggressiveness of Colorectal Cancers Chao-Yang Chen, Shih-Hsien Yang, Ping-Ying Chang, Su-Feng Chen, Shin Nieh, Wen-Yen Huang, Yu-Chun Lin, Oscar Kuang-Sheng Lee Cells.2024; 13(16): 1334. CrossRef
Associations of CXCL12 polymorphisms with clinicopathological features in breast cancer: a case-control study Shuai Lin, Yi Zheng, Meng Wang, Linghui Zhou, Yuyao Zhu, Yujiao Deng, Ying Wu, Dai Zhang, Na Li, Huafeng Kang, Zhijun Dai Molecular Biology Reports.2022; 49(3): 2255. CrossRef
The clinicopathological and prognostic value of CXCR4 expression in patients with lung cancer: a meta-analysis Liping Qiu, Yuanyuan Xu, Hui Xu, Biyun Yu BMC Cancer.2022;[Epub] CrossRef
Demystifying the CXCR4 conundrum in cancer biology: Beyond the surface signaling paradigm Mushtaq Ahmad Nengroo, Muqtada Ali Khan, Ayushi Verma, Dipak Datta Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Reviews on Cancer.2022; 1877(5): 188790. CrossRef
Targeted dendrimers for antagonizing the migration and viability of NALM-6 lymphoblastic leukemia cells Chuda Chittasupho, Chaiyawat Aonsri, Witcha Imaram Bioorganic Chemistry.2021; 107: 104601. CrossRef
CXCR4 and RANK Combination as a Predictor of Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis in Indonesia Yulian Erwin D Journal of Surgery and Surgical Research.2021; : 020. CrossRef
CXCL12/CXCR4 axis in the microenvironment of solid tumors: A critical mediator of metastasis Keywan Mortezaee Life Sciences.2020; 249: 117534. CrossRef
Impact of the Chemokine Receptors CXCR4 and CXCR7 on Clinical Outcome in Adrenocortical Carcinoma Irina Chifu, Britta Heinze, Carmina T. Fuss, Katharina Lang, Matthias Kroiss, Stefan Kircher, Cristina L. Ronchi, Barbara Altieri, Andreas Schirbel, Martin Fassnacht, Stefanie Hahner Frontiers in Endocrinology.2020;[Epub] CrossRef
BACKGROUND Expression of CXCR4 chemokine receptor, initially described to be involved in the homing of lymphocytes in inflammatory tissue, on breast cancer cell lines is associated with the development of lung metastases.
In the present study, we evaluated CXCR4 expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Tissue microarray blocks were constructed from 408 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded NSCLC samples and analyzed via immunohistochemical staining. RESULTS: We observed CXCR4 expression in 214 (66.3%) of the 323 tumors with cytoplasmic or nuclear staining patterns. These tumors were then divided into 109 negative, 166 weak-positive and 48 strong-positive expression groups. Strong expression of CXCR4 correlated with NSCLC recurrence (p=0.047) and distant metastasis (p=0.035). However, lymph node metastasis (p=0.683) and locoregional recurrence (p=0.856) were not associated with CXCR4 expression. Interestingly, the median overall survival times relative to CXCR4 expression were 71 months in the CXCR4-negative group, 43 months in the weakly positive CXCR4 group and 23 months in the strongly positive CXCR4 group.
Strongly positive CXCR4 staining was associated with significantly worse outcomes (p=0.005, log-rank test). CONCLUSIONS Expression of CXCR4 was associated with distant NSCLC metastases and shorter survival times.