Effects of pregnancy on breast cancer immunology: immune biomarker and TIL quantification

Galas K, Gleitsmann M, Rey J, Solbach C, Witzel I, Karn T, Schmatloch S, Schem C, Schneeweis A, Sinn BV, Fehm T, Denkert C, Fasching P, Litmeyer AS, Marmé F, Jank P, Müller V, Seiler S, Stickeler E, Ortmann O, van Mackelenbergh M, Nekljudova V, Holtschmidt J, Loibl S (2025)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

npj Breast Cancer Nature Research

Book Volume: 11

Article Number: 43

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41523-025-00758-3

Abstract

Breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy (PrBC) is a rare occurrence but may become more prevalent as women nowadays tend to postpone childbearing until later in life. Further understanding of how pregnancy affects the tumor microenvironment (TME) is essential. We constructed Tissue Microarrays (TMA) of tumor specimens from 126 pregnant breast cancer (BC) patients and examined standard BC markers such as ER, PR, Ki67, HER2, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and immunomarkers HLA class I, HLA-G, PD-L1, TIGIT and Nectin-4. Subsequently, we compared our findings with those from a matched non-pregnant cohort of young BC patients. Pregnant BC patients were younger, had significantly higher proliferation rates and a higher expression of Nectin-4. Higher pregnancy related estrogen levels may boost proliferation und Nectin-4 overexpression, promoting BC progression. No further evidence supporting impaired maternal anti-tumor response in BC was observed in this study.

Authors with CRIS profile

Peter Fasching Professur für Translationale Frauenheilkunde und Geburtshilfe

Involved external institutions

GBG Forschungs GmbH (German Breast Group) DE Germany (DE) Philipps-Universität Marburg DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt am Main (KGU) DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Regensburg DE Germany (DE) Universitätsspital Zürich (USZ) CH Switzerland (CH) Elisabeth-Krankenhaus DE Germany (DE) Mammazentrum Hamburg MVZ GbR DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Mannheim DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Aachen (UKA) DE Germany (DE) Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) DE Germany (DE) Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Galas, K., Gleitsmann, M., Rey, J., Solbach, C., Witzel, I., Karn, T.,... Loibl, S. (2025). Effects of pregnancy on breast cancer immunology: immune biomarker and TIL quantification. npj Breast Cancer, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41523-025-00758-3

MLA:

Galas, Kristin, et al. "Effects of pregnancy on breast cancer immunology: immune biomarker and TIL quantification." npj Breast Cancer 11.1 (2025).

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