The Expression And Significance Of The Gene CD68 In Early-Stage HER2-negative Luminal-like Breast Cancer

Background:The tumor-associated macrophages(TAMs)is generally considered as playing an important role in tumor development and progression in most(but not all)human tumor types.However,it has been reported that TAMs may have robust anti-tumor activity through immunoactivity functions in the initiation stage of cancer.This study sought to investigate the expression of gene CD68 and its prognostic value in earlystage HER2-negative luminal-like breast cancer.Methods A total 265 patients collected from Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital and Shanghai Ruijin Hospital and 392 patients logged in TCGA with early-stage HER2-negative luminal-like breast cancer were enrolled in this study.The patients were divided into higher or lower expression subgroup through expression-specific thresholds were derived,survival data was calculated using the COX proportional hazard models and Kaplan-Meier curve respectively,and time-dependent area under the curve(AUC)was used to assess the prognostic value of CD68 in early-stage HER2-negative luminal-like breast cancer.Results Expression of gene CD68 was as an independent prognostic factor in both univariate and multivariate analysis in Comprehensive Breast Health Cancer cohort and TCGA database,and higher expression level was associated with a better prognosis in earlystage HER2-negative luminal-like breast cancer.Furthermore,the patients with higher expression of gene CD68 would have better prognosis in early-stage HER2-negative luminal-like breast cancer if they could receive postoperative adjuvant hormonal therapy and(or)chemotherapy.Conclusions Higher expression of gene CD68 may contribute to a better prognosis in early-stage HER2-negative luminal-like breast cancer,and the patients with higher expression level would have significant benefit from postoperative adjuvant hormonal therapy and(or)chemotherapy.