ISSN: 1859 - 2872
The role of TILs in triple-negative breast cancer treated neoadjuvant with pembrolizumab combination chemotherapy regimen
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Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the predictive role of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) for pathologic complete response (pCR) in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with pembrolizumab. Subject and method: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 49 patients with stage II-III TNBC treated with pembrolizumab plus TC-AC regimen at K Hospital from December 2023 to May 2025. Result: The median age was 48.9 years (IQR 44 - 55), and the median TILs was 35% (IQR 20 - 50). The overall pCR rate was 67.3%. In multivariate analysis, TILs was an independent predictor of pCR (OR = 1.14; 95% CI 1.06-1.27; p=0.003). The 30% cut-off yielded sensitivity 78.8%, specificity 81.3%, and accuracy 79.6%, while the 50% cut-off achieved 100% sensitivity. Conclusion: Higher baseline TILs are significantly associated with increased likelihood of pCR in TNBC patients receiving neoadjuvant pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy. A TILs threshold of ≥ 30% may serve as a practical predictor for treatment response in clinical practice.
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References
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