CHANGES in the structure of lymph nodes could one day help identify people who are at higher or lower risk of breast cancer spreading, new research has revealed.
Structural Changes in Lymph Nodes
Lymph nodes in the armpit are often the first place that breast cancer spreads to.
Determining whether breast cancer has reached the lymph nodes is thus an important part of planning treatment.
Currently, patients with invasive breast cancer undergo surgery to remove one or more lymph nodes to check for cancer cells.
Whilst an effective intervention, it can lead to long-term side effects like lymphoedema and may be unnecessary for some.
The research, funded by Breast Cancer Now, studied 331 lymph node samples taken from people with different types of breast cancer and compared them to healthy lymph nodes from people without cancer.
Researchers analysed fibroblastic reticular cells (FRC).
The FRC network within lymph nodes provides the structure of the lymph node, controls fluid flow, and activates different immune cells.
It was found that the structure of the FRC network can change even before the breast cancer has spread, meaning tumours affect the lymph nodes before cancer cells are present at the site.
The structural changes were different depending on breast cancer type, how far the cancer had spread, and whether the patient had received chemotherapy.
Some changes were tied to better chance of survival, while others were linked to poorer outcomes.
Dr Amy Llewellyn, King’s College London, London, UK, said: “There is an urgent need to better understand the biology of the lymph node chain and our study addresses this gap by providing the first large-scale analysis of FRC in human lymph node tissue from breast cancer patients.”
Implications for Clinical Care
Researchers are now planning to study what molecules are responsible for the changes, to deconstruct the complex interactions between breast cancer and the immune system.
Such insight could be used to better identify people at higher risk of disease progression.
This could, in turn, foster more personalised treatment decisions and ensure more people avoid unnecessary side effects, Breast Cancer Now reported.
Dr Simon Vincent, Chief Scientific Officer, Breast Cancer Now, London, UK, said: “These findings suggest that changes to the structure of the lymph nodes are more than just a consequence of the cancer.
“They can also play an active role in helping breast cancer progress.”
He added: “With a better understanding of how lymph nodes change as breast cancer spreads, we could find new targets for future treatments for types of breast cancer that are harder to treat.”
Reference
Llewellyn AM et al. Topological analysis of the human lymph node reticular network predicts outcome in breast cancer. Pathol. 2026;269(3):348–362.
Featured image: kanruthai on Adobe Stock
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