Crucial Contributions by T Lymphocytes (Effector, Regulatory, and Checkpoint Inhibitor) and Cytokines (TH1, TH2, and TH17) to a Pathological Complete Response Induced by Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Women with Breast Cancer

Table 4

Correlations between tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and specific T cell subsets and grade of pathological response to NAC⁽¹⁾ (Spearman’s correlation coefficient (rho)) in women with LLABCs⁽²⁾.

Lymphocytes ()	Groups	Grade of pathological response^(3)
		Correlation coefficient	value (2-tailed)
TILs	Intratumoural infiltration	0.601	<0.001
	Stromal infiltration	0.641	<0.001
CD4^+ T cells	Intratumoural infiltration	0.316	0.073
	Stromal infiltration	0.468	0.006
CD8^+ T cells	Intratumoural infiltration	0.446	0.009
	Stromal infiltration	0.471	0.006
CD8^+: FOXP3^+ T cell ratio	Intratumoural infiltration	0.511	0.002
	Stromal infiltration	0.484	0.004

NAC: neoadjuvant chemotherapy; ⁽²⁾LLABCs: large and locally advanced breast cancers; ⁽³⁾pathological responses were graded from grades 1 to 5 (grade 1 (no loss of tumour cells), grade 2 (<30% loss of invasive disease), grade 3 (30–90% loss of invasive disease), grade 4 (>90% loss of invasive disease), and grade 5 (complete pathological response, no residual invasive disease)); statistically significant.