Journal of Surgery

Macrophage Quantification in Different Breast Tumor Compartments

Abstract

Anca Haisan1, T Petreus2, Daniela Jitaru3, M Danciu4 and E Carasevici3

Background and Aim: Breast cancer shows poor prognosis when tied with chronic inflammation mediated by tumor associated macrophages (TAM). However, TAM’s multiple role, localization and prognosis are still debatable. Our study aims to quantify macrophage area and compare defined tumor morphological compartments: tumor associated stroma (TAS), tumor parenchyma and invasive front.

Material and Methods: Automated digital macrophage area quantification was standardized using a tissue cytometry system (TissueFAXS) on slides originated from 50 patients with invasive breast carcinoma. Macrophages were stained using immunohistochemistry with anti-CD68 marker. The three tumor compartments were manually delineated on the digital slides.

Results: Macrophage area was 3 times higher in lymph node-negative metastasis patients (pN0 group) when compared to lymph node-positive group in tumor and invasive front compartments. Highly significant strong correlations were found between the three compartments only in pN0 group (i.e. R >0.90, P<0.001) while pN+ group showed weak ones suggesting various macrophage roles.

Conclusion: Compartment-specific automatic quantification of macrophages in invasive breast carcinoma provides more insight on their role in tumor outcome. The new method applied in our study shows compartments’ variability of local macrophage density and highlights behavior differentiated by the presence of metastasis.