{
  "abstract": "Background/objectives\n\nWe examined combinations of immune- and stromal-associated features in pretreatment triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) biopsies and explored their clinical and germline associations.Methods\n\nThis retrospective study included 24 women with nonmetastatic TNBC from a clinically selected BRCA1/BRCA2-tested cohort. Two pathologists, blinded to clinical and germline data, jointly assessed stromal tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (sTILs), programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), CD68/CD163-positive macrophages, and CD117/tryptase-positive mast cells. Profiles were assigned before unblinding. A second blinded joint sTIL assessment provided continuous estimates for subsequent hierarchical clustering; profile assignments remained unchanged.Results\n\nProfiles I-III comprised seven, 13, and four tumors, respectively. Profile I combined higher sTILs and PD-L1 with a CD68-high/CD163-low pattern and rare mast cells. Profile II showed lower sTILs and PD-L1, a CD68-low/CD163-high pattern, and dense mast-cell hotspots; Profile III had minimal sTILs, low macrophage counts, and no mast cells detected in evaluated fields. Clustering reproduced these assignments. All four patients with pathogenic/likely pathogenic germline BRCA1/BRCA2 variants were in Profile I (adjusted p = 0.030); omitting one positive case at a time increased the adjusted p value to 0.068. Seven of 16 neoadjuvant-treated patients achieved pathologic complete response. Five posttreatment recurrences and seven deaths were recorded; exploratory comparisons of pathologic complete response and overall survival were inconclusive.Conclusions\n\nThese profiles describe different combinations of lymphocytic infiltration, PD-L1 expression, macrophage counts, and mast-cell hotspots. The profiles and the exploratory BRCA1/BRCA2 finding require validation in larger, independent cohorts before clinical use.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Division of Pathology, Department of Human Pathology of Adults and Developmental Age \"Gaetano Barresi\", University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy.",
    "Medical Oncology Unit, \"R. Dulbecco\" Teaching Hospital (Mater Domini Facility), Magna Græcia University and Cancer Center, Campus Salvatore Venuta, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy.",
    "Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Magna Græcia University, Campus Salvatore Venuta, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy.",
    "Department of Biomedical, Dental, Morphological and Functional Imaging Sciences, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, Italy.",
    "Pathology Unit, \"Renato Dulbecco\" Hospital, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy.",
    "Surgery Unit, \"R. Dulbecco\" Teaching Hospital (Mater Domini Facility), Magna Græcia University and Cancer Center, Campus Salvatore Venuta, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 12,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Valeria Zuccalà",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3478-9217"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Nicoletta Staropoli"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Caterina Labanca"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Gabriele Ricciardi",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-1349-0910"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Pietro Tralongo",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4957-3283"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Vincenzo Fiorentino",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1132-1761"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Elisabetta Procopio"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Maria Renne"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Antonio Ieni"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Maurizio Martini",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6260-6310"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Pierfrancesco Tassone",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8298-6787"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Pierosandro Tagliaferri"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/81xaswts5bjxc.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/diseases14100367",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13703652",
  "id": "81xaswts5bjxc",
  "issns": [
    "2079-9721"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42929994",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1306|Breast Cancer Treatment Studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220389694",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13703652?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13703652",
  "pmid": "42929994",
  "published": "2026-10-03",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/81xaswts5bjxc.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:22:01Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42929994",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42929994"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:1306|Breast Cancer Treatment Studies",
      "subfield": "oncology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Immune- and Stromal-Associated Tissue-Context Profiles in Pretreatment Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: An Exploratory Institutional Cohort Study.",
  "title_text": "Immune- and Stromal-Associated Tissue-Context Profiles in Pretreatment Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: An Exploratory Institutional Cohort Study.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:22:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/81xaswts5bjxc",
  "venue": "Diseases (Basel, Switzerland)",
  "versions": []
}