Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Nov 1;8(19):4098-4105.
doi: 10.7150/jca.21030. eCollection 2017.

Prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in patients with breast cancer: a meta-analysis

Yu Zhou  1 , Nan Shao  1 , Nijiati Aierken  1 , Chuanbo Xie  2 , Runyi Ye  1 , Xueke Qian  1 , Ziye Hu  1 , Jin Zhang  1 , Ying Lin  1
Affiliations

Prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in patients with breast cancer: a meta-analysis

Yu Zhou et al. J Cancer. .

Abstract

Purpose: The prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating Foxp3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) in breast cancer remains controversial. Therefore, we performed this meta-analysis to determine the impact of Foxp3+ Tregs infiltration on survival outcomes.

Methods: Relevant literature was retrieved from Pubmed, Web of science and Cocohrane until May 30, 2016. Meta-analysis was performed using hazard ratios (HRs), odds ratio (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) as effect measures.

Results: Fourteen studies (10,259 patients) were included. Meta-analysis showed that high Foxp3+ Tregs infiltration was correlated with high histological grade (OR= 2.96, 95%CI [2.03-4.31]), estrogen receptor (ER) negativity (OR= 0.38, 95%CI [0.23-0.60]), human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) positivity (OR=2.43, 95%CI [1.69-3.51]). The detection of FOXP3+ Tregs was significantly associated with recurrence-free survival (RFS) of patients (HR = 1.58, 95 % CI [1.03-2.44]).

Conclusion: Our meta-analysis suggests that high Foxp3+ Tregs infiltration is associated with poor RFS in breast cancer patients and predicts histological grade, estrogen receptor and HER-2 status.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Foxp3; Meta-analysis.; Prognosis; Regulatory T cells.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart shows study selection procedure
Figure 2
Figure 2
Meta-analysis of the effects of Foxp3+ Tregs infiltration on RFS of patients with breast cancer.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Meta-analysis of the effects of Foxp3+ Tregs infiltration on OS of patients with breast cancer. As Liu et al. 2012 reported two HRs based on the location of Foxp3+ Tregs, we used their data separately.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Sensitivity analysis of the pooled hazard ratios coefficients on the relationships between Foxp3+ Tregs and RFS of patients with breast cancer.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Sensitivity analysis of the pooled hazard ratios coefficients on the relationships between Foxp3+ Tregs and OS of patients with breast cancer.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Funnel plot of publication biases on the relationships between Foxp3+ Tregs infiltration and RFS of patients with breast cancer.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Funnel plot of publication biases on the relationships between Foxp3+ Tregs infiltration and OS of patients with breast cancer.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Siegel R, Naishadham D, Jemal A. Cancer statistics, 2013. CA Cancer J Clin. 2013;63(1):11–30. - PubMed
    1. Jemal A, Bray F, Center MM, Ferlay J, Ward E, Forman D. (). Global cancer statistics. CA Cancer J Clin. 2011;61(2):69–90. - PubMed
    1. Liotta LA, Kohn EC. The microenvironment of the tumour-host interface. Nature. 2001;411(6835):375–379. - PubMed
    1. Li H, Fan X, Houghton J. Tumor microenvironment: the role of the tumor stroma in cancer. J Cell Biochem. 2007;101(4):805–815. - PubMed
    1. Grivennikov SI, Greten FR, Karin M. Immunity, inflammation, and cancer. Cell. 2010;140(6):883–899. - PMC - PubMed