# Prognostic value of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancers (TNBC) who did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-park-tils-untreated-early-tnbc-ann-oncol-2019/  
OnCo record `paper-park-tils-untreated-early-tnbc-ann-oncol-2019` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

In 476 women with early triple-negative cancer who had no chemotherapy, more lymphocytes in the tumour still meant fewer relapses, and stage I patients with 30% or more had a 97% chance of no distant relapse at five years.

## Summary

Individual data from 476 TNBC patients not treated with chemotherapy at four centres (1989 to 2015; median age 64, median tumour 1.6 cm, 83% node-negative) were pooled. Median sTILs were 10% (interquartile range 4 to 30%). In multivariable analysis each 10% increment gave hazard ratios of 0.90 (iDFS), 0.86 (D-DFS) and 0.88 (OS). Stage I patients with sTILs 30% or more (74) had five-year iDFS 91%, D-DFS 97% and OS 98%.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-24
- Journal: Annals of Oncology
- Year: 2019
- DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdz395
- Authors: Park JH, Jonas SF, Bataillon G, et al.
- Findings: Median sTILs 10% in untreated early TNBC.; Each 10% increment: iDFS HR 0.90, D-DFS 0.86, OS 0.88.; Stage I with sTILs 30% or more: five-year D-DFS 97%, OS 98%.
- What it means: TILs are prognostic without chemotherapy, which is what a de-escalation biomarker has to show before trials omit treatment on its basis.
- Caveats: Retrospective, older and node-negative patients who were selected not to receive chemotherapy.; Only 74 patients in the stage I high-TIL group.

## Sources

- Park et al., Ann Oncol 2019: TILs in 476 early TNBC patients who received no chemotherapy: https://doi.org/10.1093/annonc/mdz395
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31566659/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Early triple-negative breast cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/tnbc-early/), [Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)](https://onco.cc/cancers/tnbc/)
- terms: [Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs)](https://onco.cc/terms/tils/)
- people: [Fabrice André](https://onco.cc/people/fabrice-andre/), [Giuseppe Curigliano](https://onco.cc/people/giuseppe-curigliano/), [Sherene Loi](https://onco.cc/people/loi-sherene/), [Sung-Bae Kim](https://onco.cc/people/kim-sung-bae/)
- journals: [Annals of Oncology](https://onco.cc/journals/annals-of-oncology/)

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