Plasma cytokine profiles in breast cancer patients and their association with therapeutic response in Peru: a prospective cohort study

BackgroundBreast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant neoplasm in women worldwide and in Peru. Beyond hormonal and genetic factors, cytokines play a key role in tumor aggressiveness and therapeutic resistance.

However, evidence on circulating cytokine profiles in Latin American populations is limited.ObjectiveWe aimed to characterize the plasma cytokine profile in Peruvian women with BC and evaluate its association with molecular subtypes and treatment response.Materials and methodsA prospective cohort study was conducted. We included 88 BC patients with clinical stage II–III, who were diagnosed at three different cancer centers in Peru: Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas (INEN, Lima-Peru), Instituto Regional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas del Norte (IREN-NORTE, Trujillo-Peru), and Instituto Regional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas del Sur (IREN-SUR, Arequipa-Peru).

Plasma samples were obtained prior to any treatment being administered and underwent analysis using the Bio-Plex Pro™ Human Cytokine 48-Plex Screening Panel kit. Poisson regression models were used to evaluate the association between cytokine levels and complete pathological response (pCR) and clinical response.ResultsCytokine concentration differences in MIP-1β, IL-9, GRO-α, and TNF-β were observed between BC molecular subtypes.