RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Correlation of HLA-A and HLA-B/C Expression With ESR1 Expression in Patients With Metastatic Breast Cancer as a Potential Prognosticator of Favorable Distant Disease-free Survival
JF Anticancer Research
JO Anticancer Res
FD International Institute of Anticancer Research
SP 445
OP 450
DO 10.21873/anticanres.17433
VO 45
IS 2
A1 GOERDT, LUKAS
A1 STEFANOVIC, ALEKSANDRA
A1 WIRTZ, RALPH
A1 KARIC, UROS
A1 DEUTSCH, THOMAS M.
A1 KOHLER, MAXIMILIAN
A1 SCHNEEWEISS, ANDREAS
A1 SÜTTERLIN, MARC
A1 STEFANOVIC, STEFAN
A1 HOFMANN, JAN
A1 WALLWIENER, MARKUS
YR 2025
UL http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/45/2/445.abstract
AB Background/Aim: The loss of breast cancer cell differentiation during metastatic progression leads to a down-regulation of class 1 human leukocyte antigen (HLA) expression, which in turn hinders cytotoxic T lymphocytes from effectively preventing tumor cell proliferation. Consequently, one would expect that decreased HLA expression would correlate with decreased 5-year survival. However, estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) is known to be positively associated with overall survival. The study aimed to determine the expression levels of HLA-A, HLA-B/C, and ESR1 and to assess their influence on distant disease-free survival (DDFS). Materials and Methods: This retrospective subgroup analysis of the initial prospective, single-center, double-blind cohort study included a total of 34 patients who underwent a new treatment line for metastatic breast cancer (MBC). The MBC cells were examined using RT-qPCR. Results: The acquired data and the subsequent survival and ROC analyses indicated a positive association of reduced expression of HLA-A and HLA-B/C with DDFS. A statistically significant association of ESR1 with DDFS could not be shown. Conclusion: A potential positive association between reduced expression of HLA-A and HLA-B/C and DDFS is observed. This contrasts with the generally observed association between HLA expression loss and poor prognosis, as reported in previous protein-based studies. In metastatic settings, reduced expression of particular HLA subsets, measured at the mRNA level, might have a protective effect against disease progression.