ArticleBJC reports2025
Single-cell analysis reveals tumour size as a key driver of immune cell profile alterations in primary breast tumours and corresponding lymph nodes.
Article in BJC reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Precision oncology in the age of AI: lessons from AI-driven drug discovery and clinical translation.BJC reports · 2026Review
- Understanding the immune microenvironment of ovarian cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAt diagnosis, 30-40% of women with breast cancer have metastases in sentinel (SN) or axillary lymph nodes (ALN). Nodal status is a strong prognostic factor and guides treatment decisions. Immune checkpoint inhibition has shown some efficacy, which can increase in the neoadjuvant setting. A better understanding of how tumour cells in primary tumours and metastatic lymph nodes shape the local immune microenvironment may provide clues for more individualized therapeutic interventions.
methodsWe conducted deep immunophenotypic analysis of 29 primary breast tumours and 36 lymph nodes from 38 patients with primary operable breast cancer.
resultsThe immune profile of the primary tumour was not predictive of the lymph node immune profile or metastatic status. Primary tumours showed prominent CD8 T cell exhaustion and activated regulatory T cells, and the frequencies of these subsets were associated with tumour size. The immune cell profile in lymph nodes were different from the profile in primary tumours, except for the ALN+ nodes, which displayed a T-cell profile more similar to primary tumours. The frequencies of the T cell subsets in lymph nodeswere associated with metastatic size. Tumour cells from smaller metastases exhibited a distinct phenotype compared to those from larger tumour deposits, and the size of the tumour cell deposit impacted the local immune cell composition.
conclusionThe tumour size of primary tumours and metastatic size in lymph nodes are the main drivers of changes in immune cell composition.
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