ArticleBreast cancer research : BCR2016
Lymphocyte depletion and repopulation after chemotherapy for primary breast cancer.
Article in Breast cancer research : BCR, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 167 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
167 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 285 citations in OpenAlex.
- Can posttreatment blood inflammatory markers predict poor survival in gynecologic cancer?: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Pooled it
- Serologic response following SARS-COV2 vaccination in patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of hematology & oncology · 2022Pooled it
- COVID-19 vaccine response and safety in patients with cancer: An overview of systematic reviews.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Dose dependence of treatment-related adverse events for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies: a model-based meta-analysis.Oncoimmunology · 2020Pooled it
- Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation attenuates changes in the concentration, phenotype, and response of immune peripheral blood cells in breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant therapy. Secondary findings from the DHA-WIN trial.Breast cancer research : BCR · 2025Trial
- Differential immunomodulatory effects of epirubicin/cyclophosphamide and docetaxel in breast cancer patients.Journal of experimental & clinical cancer research : CR · 2023Trial
- Trastuzumab deruxtecan in metastatic breast cancer with variable HER2 expression: the phase 2 DAISY trial.Nature medicine · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Immune-Phenotyping and Transcriptomic Profiling of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells From Patients With Breast Cancer: Identification of a 3 Gene Signature Which Predicts Relapse of Triple Negative Breast Cancer.Frontiers in immunology · 2018Trial
- The peripheral immune landscape of human breast cancer.Oncoimmunology · 2026Review
- Remodeling memory T cells with chemotherapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors as host pre-conditioning to empower in vivo CAR-T therapy.Synthetic and systems biotechnology · 2026Review
- Enfortumab vedotin induces immunogenic cell death and shows enhanced preclinical antitumor activity when combined with a PD-1 inhibitor.Cell reports. Medicine · 2026Article
- Risk Factors for Cutaneous Immune-Related Adverse Events in the Japanese Population: A Retrospective Single-Center Cohort Study.The Journal of dermatology · 2026Article
- A three-gene radioresistance signature predicts tumor progression in cervical cancer.Translational cancer research · 2026Article
- Article
- Overcoming Drug Resistance by Paclitaxel Resistance in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Assessing Immune Fitness in Oncological Rehabilitation-Validity and Responsiveness of the Immune Status Questionnaire and Single-Item Scale.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2026Article
- Immunological consequences of chemotherapy: implications for cancer immunotherapy.Journal for immunotherapy of cancer · 2026Review
- Chemotherapeutics as Immune Modulators for the Treatment of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.Cancers · 2026Review
- Article
107 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundApproximately 30 % of breast cancer patients receive chemotherapy, yet little is known about influences of current regimens on circulating lymphocyte levels and phenotypes. Similarly, clinico-pathological factors that modify these influences, and implications for future immune health remain mainly unexplored.
methodsWe used flow-cytometry to assess circulating lymphocyte levels and phenotypes in 88 primary breast cancer patients before chemotherapy and at time-points from 2 weeks to 9 months after chemotherapy completion. We examined circulating titres of antibodies against pneumococcal and tetanus antigens using ELISAs.
resultsLevels of B, T and NK cells were significantly reduced 2 weeks after chemotherapy (p < 0.001). B cells demonstrated particularly dramatic depletion, falling to 5.4 % of pre-chemotherapy levels. Levels of all cells recovered to some extent, although B and CD4(+) T cells remained significantly depleted even 9 months post-chemotherapy (p < 0.001). Phenotypes of repopulating B and CD4(+) T cells were significantly different from, and showed no sign of returning to pre-chemotherapy profiles. Repopulating B cells were highly depleted in memory cells, with proportions of memory cells falling from 38 % to 10 % (p < 0.001). Conversely, repopulating CD4(+) T cells were enriched in memory cells, which increased from 63 % to 75 % (p < 0.001). Differences in chemotherapy regimen and patient smoking were associated with significant differences in depletion extent or repopulation dynamics. Titres of anti-pneumococcal and anti-tetanus antibodies were both significantly reduced post-chemotherapy and did not recover during the study (p < 0.001).
conclusionBreast cancer chemotherapy is associated with long-term changes in immune parameters that should be considered during clinical management.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.