Immune phenotypic profile of patients with breast cancer attended at a public hospital in Lima, Peru

Abstract

Immunohistochemistry (IH) allows to classify breast cancer in subtypes that are relevant for treatment and prognosis. Compared to genetic markers, IH is cheaper, easier to perform and has good correlation with molecular subtypes. Objective: To describe the immune phenotypic profile of patients with breast cancer attended at a public hospital in Lima, Peru. Methods: Cross-sectional study that included all cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed from May 1st 2015 to April 30, 2017. Histopathological description was performed and cases were classified based on current protocols into four subtypes. Results: 330 cases were included; 71 were excluded; 259 were left for analysis. Mean age was 54.64 ± 14.07 years. In half of cases the cancer was located in the right breast. The invasive ductal carcinoma accounted for 88.03% of cases; the intermediate histological degree was found in 53.28% of cases. The molecular subtype Luminal A accounted for 40.15% and only 11.97% were non-luminal HER2/neu positive. Conclusions: One in four cases of breast cancer presented with the IH pattern of HER2/neu positive, while the most common IH subtype was Luminal A. Histological degree was associated with the IH subtype.