Natural killer (NK) cell profiles in blood and tumour in women with large and locally advanced breast cancer (LLABC) and their contribution to a pathological complete response (PCR) in the tumour following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC): differential restoration of blood profiles by NAC and surgery

Table 7 Analyses of tumour-infiltrating CD56⁺ cells in LLABCs pre and post NAC

Groups	Pre NAC intratumoural median (range)^a	P value^b (GPR versus PPR, PCR versus non PCR)	Pre NAC peritumoural median (range)^a	P value^b (GPR versus PPR, PCR versus non PCR)	Post NAC peritumoural median (range)^a	P value^c (pre NAC versus post NAC)
Good pathological response (GPR, n = 9)	5 (0–17)	0.091	2 (0–17)	0.042*	1 (0–3)	0.121
Poor pathological response (PPR, n = 7)	1 (0–7)	0.091	0 (0–5)	0.042*	1 (0–3)	0.655
Pathological complete response (PCR, n = 6)	4 (1–17)	0.181	3 (2–17)	0.005*	2 (0–3)	0.144
Non pathological complete response (non PCR, n = 10)	1 (0–7)	0.181	0.5 (0–5)	0.005*	1 (0–3)	0.680

LLABCs large (≥3 cm) and locally advanced breast cancers (T3–4 N1–2 M0), NAC neoadjuvant chemotherapy.
* Statistically significant.
^aTotal cell count per 5 HPFs (core biopsies of breast cancers).
^bMann–Whitney U test.
^cWilcoxon signed rank test.

ISSN: 1479-5876