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In human invasive breast ductal carcinoma, tumor stromal macrophages and tumor nest macrophages have distinct relationships with clinicopathological parameters and tumor angiogenesis

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Tumor-associated macrophages play a crucial role in breast cancer progression and tumor angiogenesis. However, evaluation of tumor-associated macrophages incorporating their histological locations is lacking. The aim of this study was to clarify whether macrophages in tumor stroma and macrophages in tumor cell nests have distinctive properties in relation to pertinent breast cancer clinicopathological parameters and tumor angiogenesis. In 94 human invasive breast ductal carcinomas, tumor-associated macrophages were immunostained with anti-CD68 antibody and counted or graded according to these histological locations. Microvessels were immunostained with anti-CD34 antibody and counted for microvessel density. We found that the presence of tumor stromal and tumor nest macrophages was closely correlated (p = 0.001). Both tumor stromal and tumor nest macrophages were associated with mitotic count (p = 0.001 and p = 0.037, respectively). However, only higher tumor stromal macrophage grades were associated with higher tumor grades (p = 0.004) and negative estrogen receptor status (p = 0.007). Multivariate analysis showed that tumors with a high mitotic count score (score 3 vs. scores 1 and 2) had a higher tumor stromal macrophage density (Grades III and IV) when adjusted for tumor size, tubule formation, and estrogen receptor status (odds ratio 3.41, p = 0.010). The tumor nest macrophage count significantly correlated with the microvessel density (p < 0.001). These results imply that tumor stromal macrophages and tumor nest macrophages residing in different tumor microenvironments have distinctive roles.

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Abbreviations

CI:

Confidence interval

Her-2:

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2

MVD:

Microvessel density

NOS:

Not otherwise specified

SD:

Standard deviation

TAMs:

Tumor-associated macrophages

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Universiti Sains Malaysia Short Term Grant (304/PPSP/61310048).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia

    Ewe Seng Ch’ng, Sharifah Emilia Tuan Sharif & Hasnan Jaafar

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  1. Ewe Seng Ch’ng
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  2. Sharifah Emilia Tuan Sharif
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Correspondence to Ewe Seng Ch’ng.

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Ch’ng, E.S., Tuan Sharif, S.E. & Jaafar, H. In human invasive breast ductal carcinoma, tumor stromal macrophages and tumor nest macrophages have distinct relationships with clinicopathological parameters and tumor angiogenesis. Virchows Arch 462, 257–267 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-012-1362-4

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