Hypofunction of macrophage chemotaxis contributes to defective efficacy of herceptin in HER2-positive breast cancer patients

Breast cancer was considered as a kind of prone breast tumors with the complicated pathological mechanisms and diverse clinical classifications. In the clinical treatments of HER2-positive tumor patients, HER2 monoclonal antibodies, such as Herceptin, have shown well-defined therapeutic effects. Nevertheless, due to the heterogeneity of breast cancers, drug resistance inevitably appeared during the application of Herceptin. In order to fully understand the immune tolerance status of the tumor microenvironment in the population of sensitive and insensitive patients, this study carried out a series of studies through Luminex cytokines assay, clinicopathological analysis, immunofluorescence, and PCR. The results confirmed that in clinical samples sensitive to Herceptin, there were a large number of macrophages, and the protein expression levels and in situ expression of macrophage-related chemokines and inflammatory mediators are significantly higher than drug-resistant tumor samples. Further studies found that T cell function has a low correlation with tumor growth, and there are obvious obstacles in the process of peripheral blood immune cells entering the tumor microenvironment. In summary, this study provided clues for understanding the clinical drug resistance of HER2 monoclonal antibody and the clinical rational use of drugs and combination drugs.