Correlation of Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) to Apoptotic Index (AI) in Breast Cancer

Background: TILs is higher in breast cancer tissue, especially in the stroma compared to normal breast tissue. There is still no research on the relationship between AI and TILS in breast cancer. Yet another study indicating the presence of lymphocytic infiltration was investigated further by detailed analysis of apoptotic epithelial/tumor cells, using the CytoDEATH M30 antibody. The number of apoptosis was significantly higher. Methods: This study used an observational analytic design with a cross-sectional approach to analyze the relationship between Tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and the apoptotic index (AI) in breast cancer. This research was conducted at H. Adam Malik General Hospital. The study was conducted using a case series model to see the correlation between Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TILs) and Apoptotic index (AI) in Breast Cancer. Results: In this study there were 52 patients where the mean age was 54.8 years with a standard deviation of 9.66 years Based on the characteristics of the TNM, it was found that most of the patients came with T3 (24 patients/46.2%), N0 (29 patients/55.8%) and M1 (31 patients/59.6%). Based on the frequency, there were 35 patients with high TILS or 67.3% of the total sample and 44 patients with high AI or 84.6%. In this study, an analysis of the relationship between TILS and AI was carried out where a p value <0.001 was obtained indicating a significance and relationship between TILS and AI. Conclusions: There is a significant relationship between tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and the Apoptotic index (AI).