TLR4 and pSTAT3 Expression on Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) and Immune Cells in the Peripheral Blood of Breast Cancer Patients: Prognostic Implications

Abstract

TLR4 and pSTAT3 are key players in cancer inflammation and immune evasion; however, their role in the peripheral blood (PB) is largely unexplored. Herein we evaluated their expression in the circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and peripheral-blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with early (n = 99) and metastatic (n = 100) breast cancer (BC). PB samples obtained prior to adjuvant and first-line therapy, were immunofluorescently stained for Cytokeratins/TLR4/pSTAT3/DAPI and analyzed via Ariol microscopy. TLR4+ CTCs were detected in 50% and 68% of early and metastatic CTC-positive patients, respectively, and pSTAT3+ CTCs in 83% and 68%, respectively. In metastatic patients, CTC detection was associated with a high risk of death (HR: 1.764, p = 0.038), while TLR4+ CTCs correlated with a high risk of disease progression (HR: 1.964, p = 0.030). Regarding PBMCs, TLR4 expression prevailed in metastatic disease (p = 0.029), while pSTAT3 expression was more frequent in early disease (p = 0.014). In early BC, TLR4 expression on PBMCs independently predicted for high risk of relapse (HR: 3.549; p = 0.009), whereas in metastatic BC, TLR4+/pSTAT3− PBMCs independently predicted for high risk of death (HR: 2.925; p = 0.012). These results suggest that TLR4/pSTAT3 signaling on tumor- and immune-cell compartments in the PB could play a role in BC progression, and may hold independent prognostic implications for BC patients.