Macrophage infiltration of breast tumours: A prospective study

Abstract

In 50 cases of infiltrating breast cancer investigated in a prospective study the number of macrophages within each tumor was assessed. The macrophages were identified by their cytoplasmic acid phosphatase activity. The number of lymphocytes and plasma cells within the tumors were graded by a scoring technique. Significantly fewer cases with metastases were found among those with high macrophage and plasma cell scores. There was no correlation between lymphoreticular infiltration and the degree of tumor differentiation, but in cases without metastases the lympho-reticular infiltration between tumor cells was nearly always only slight when the macrophage score was low.