%0 Journal Article
%T Association of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes and Body Mass Index (BMI) in Early HER2-Positive Breast Cancer: Insights from the ShortHER Trial
%A Andrei Nicolae Popescu
%A Tudor Mihai Georgescu
%J Archive of International Journal of Cancer and Allied Science
%@ 3108-4834
%D 2022
%V 2
%N 2
%R 10.51847/PBHQldEj3k
%P 114-124
%X Previous research from the ShortHER trial established the prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. This study investigates the influence of body mass index (BMI) on the prognostic impact of TILs. The ShortHER trial compared 9 weeks versus 1 year of adjuvant trastuzumab combined with chemotherapy in 1253 patients with HER2-positive early breast cancer. BMI data at baseline were available for 1213 patients (excluding 34 underweight individuals). Key outcomes included disease-free survival (DFS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), distant disease-free survival (DDFS), and overall survival (OS). Competing risk analysis was used to evaluate the cumulative incidence of different event types.

Among the patients, 583 (48%) were normal weight, 360 (29.7 percent) overweight, and 236 (19.5 percent) obese. Survival outcomes (DFS, RFS, DDFS, OS) were comparable between normal-weight patients and those with overweight or obesity. In the subgroup with both TIL and BMI data (n=819), higher TIL levels (per 5% increment) independently predicted better DFS (P=0.003), RFS (P=0.001), and DDFS (P=0.018) in normal-weight patients. In overweight or obese patients, higher TILs were linked only to improved DDFS (P=0.044). Normal-weight patients with TILs ≥20% showed significantly better DFS (P=0.007), RFS (P=0.002), and DDFS (P=0.027) than those with TILs 
%U https://smerpub.com/article/association-of-tumor-infiltrating-lymphocytes-and-body-mass-index-bmi-in-early-her2-positive-breas-nosxjg9lhh1jkjl