Journal of Pathology and Translational Medicine

Original Article

Loss of Human Leukocyte Antigen Class I Expression Is Associated with Poor Prognosis in Patients with Advanced Breast Cancer: Hong Sik Park, Uiju Cho, So Young Im, Chang Young Yoo, Ji Han Jung, Young Jin Suh, Hyun Joo Choi; J Pathol Transl Med. 2019;53(2):75-85. Published online November 14, 2018; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4132/jptm.2018.10.11

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Background
Human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) molecules play important roles in regulating immune responses. Loss or reduction of HLA-I expression has been shown to be associated with prognosis in several cancers. Regulatory T-cells (Tregs) also play critical functions in immune response regulation. Evaluation of HLA-I expression status by the EMR8-5 antibody and its clinical impact in breast cancer have not been well studied, and its relationship with Tregs remains unclear.
Methods
We evaluated HLA-I expression and Treg infiltration by immunohistochemistry in 465 surgically resected breast cancer samples. We examined the correlation between HLA-I expression and Treg infiltration and clinicopathologic characteristics and survival analyses were performed.
Results
Total loss of HLA-I expression was found in 84 breast cancer samples (18.1%). Univariate survival analysis revealed that loss of HLA-I expression was significantly associated with worse disease-specific survival (DSS) (p = .029). HLA-I was not an independent prognostic factor in the entire patient group, but it was an adverse independent prognostic factor for DSS in patients with advanced disease (stage II–IV) (p = .031). Treg numbers were significantly higher in the intratumoral stroma of HLA-I–positive tumors than in HLA-I–negative tumors (median 6.3 cells/high power field vs 2.1 cells/high power field, p < .001). However, Tregs were not an independent prognostic factor in our cohort.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that the loss of HLA-I expression is associated with poor prognosis in breast cancer patients, highlighting the role of HLA-I alterations in immune evasion mechanisms of breast cancer. HLA-I could be a promising marker that enables the application of more effective and precise immunotherapies for patients with advanced breast cancer.

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Case Study

Malignant Pleural Effusion from Metastatic Prostate Cancer: A Case Report with Unusual Cytologic Findings: Jinyoung Jeon, Tae-Jung Kim, Hong Sik Park, Kyo-Young Lee; J Pathol Transl Med. 2018;52(4):257-261. Published online June 7, 2018; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4132/jptm.2018.05.08

9,410 View
126 Download
3 Web of Science
5 Crossref

Abstract PDF

We present a case of 55-year-old man who complained of dyspnea and sputum for a month. He was an ex-smoker with a history of prostate cancer and pulmonary tuberculosis. Chest radiographs revealed bilateral pleural effusions of a small to moderate amount. Pigtail catheters were inserted for drainage. The pleural fluid consisted of large clusters and tightly cohesive groups of malignant cells, which however could not be ascribed to prostate cancer with certainty. We performed immunocytochemical panel studies to determine the origin of cancer metastasis. The immunostaining results were positive for prostate-specific antigen, alpha-methylacyl-coenzyme A racemase, and Nkx 3.1, consistent with prostate cancer. Pleural effusion associated with prostate cancer is rare. To our knowledge, this is the first case report in Korea to describe cytologic features of malignant pleural effusion associated with prostate cancer.

Citations

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