Tumour budding in invasive breast carcinoma of no special type – relationship with clinicopathological parameters

Each breast cancer is a heterogeneous tumour with different clinicopathological feature, and thus they all have different prognoses. Tumour budding (TB), considered as the first step in tumour metastasis, is the most critical factor for poor prognosis and is associated with the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Tumour budding and its clinicopathological features in invasive breast carcinoma of no special type (NST).

Patients who underwent surgery for invasive breast carcinoma (NST) between January 2018 and 2022 were retrospectively reviewed from the database, haematoxylin and eosin-stained slides were retrieved and reevaluated.

The study included 200 patients. The mean number of TB was 12.8 ±9.6. The number of TB was significantly lower in patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy treatment (p = 0.002). There was a weak positive correlation between TB count and tumour size (r = 0.177). Triple-negative patients had significantly lower TB counts (p = 0.001). No significant difference was observed between histological grade, nuclear grade, presence of ductal carcinoma in situ, stromal tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes, perineural invasion, lymph node metastasis, and number of TB (p > 0.05).

The number of TB was higher in oestrogen receptor positive tumours (p = 0.015). There were more TB in patients with angiolymphatic invasion, which supports the pathophysiological relationship between tumour budding, metastasis, and EMT. Clarification of the mechanism of TB with more studies is promising in terms of treatment options.