Table 1.
Correlations between stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and clinicopathologic characteristics in HER2-positive breast cancers
| Variables | No. of patients (%) | p value of sTILs |
|---|---|---|
| Total number of patients | 143 (100) | – |
| Age (years) | ||
| < 50 | 64 (44.8) | 0.574 |
| ≥ 50 | 79 (55.2) | |
| Tumor size (cm) | ||
| ≤ 2 | 16 (11.2) | 0.824 |
| 2–5 | 96 (67.1) | |
| > 5 | 31 (21.7) | |
| Histological gradea | ||
| 2 | 65 (45.5) | 0.402 |
| 3 | 78 (54.5) | |
| Ki-67 index (%)b | ||
| ≤ 10 | 9 (6.3) | 0.166 |
| 10–30 | 47 (32.9) | |
| > 30 | 87 (60.8) | |
| Nodal status | ||
| Negative | 57 (39.9) | <0.001 |
| Positive | 86 (60.1) | |
| Lympho-vascular invasion | ||
| Negative | 109 (76.2) | 0.009 |
| Positive | 34 (23.8) | |
| MP gradingc | ||
| 1 | 7 (4.9) | 0.002 |
| 2 | 16 (11.2) | |
| 3 | 10 (7.0) | |
| 4 | 18 (12.6) | |
| 5 | 92 (64.3) | |
| Pathological response | ||
| pCR | 86 (60.1) | < 0.001 |
| Non-pCR | 57 (39.9) | |
HER2 Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, sTILs tumor-Infiltrating lymphocytes, pCR pathological complete response
aThe histological grade of tumor was evaluated in pre-neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) core needle biopsy specimens using the Nottingham grading system, with 3 being the worst score
bFraction of Ki-67-positive tumor cells
cMiller–Payne grading system; a histopathological classification system used to categorize tumor response to treatment relative to tumor cellularity in the pre-treatment section, with grade 1 indicating no reduction in overall cellularity and grade 5 indicating no invasive carcinoma