Key clinical point: Increased stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTIL) were associated with improved survival in young patients (<40 years old) with early-stage, node-negative (N0), triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) who were naive to systemic therapy.
Major finding: At 15 years, the cumulative incidence of distant metastasis or death was only 2.1% (95% CI 0%-5.0%) in patients with high sTIL (≥75%) compared with 38.4% (95% CI 32.1%-44.6%) in patients with low sTIL (<30%), with an increase in overall survival by 19% for every 10% increase in sTIL (adjusted hazard ratio 0.81; 95% CI 0.76-0.87).
Study details: The study evaluated prospectively collected population-based cohort data of 441 patients aged <40 years who had N0 TNBC and had not received neoadjuvant systemic therapy.
Disclosures: This study was supported by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development, A Sister’s Hope, De Vrienden van UMC Utrecht, and other sources. The authors declared serving as consultants, advisors, or in speaker’s bureaus or receiving research grants or travel and accommodation expenses from several sources.
Source: de Jong VMT et al. Prognostic value of stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in young, node-negative, triple-negative breast cancer patients who did not receive (neo)adjuvant systemic therapy. J Clin Oncol. 2022 (Mar 30). Doi: 10.1200/JCO.21.01536