Inflammation by Breast Implants and Adenocarcinoma: Not Always a Bad Company

Inflammation and tumor are now an inseparable binomial. Inflammation may also derive by the use of breast implants followed by the formation of a periprosthetic capsule. It is known that tumor cells, in an inflamed microenvironment, can profit by the paracrine effect exerted also by mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Here we evaluated the role of inflammation on the immunobiology of MSCs before and after cocultures with cells derived from breast adenocarcinoma.

MSCs derived from both inflamed (I-MSCs) and control (C-MSCs) tissues were isolated and cocultured with MCF7 cells derived from breast adenocarcinoma. Before and after cocultures, the proliferation rate of MCF7 cells and the expression/secretion of cytokines related to inflammation were tested.

Before cocultures, higher levels of cytokine related to chronic inflammation were detected in I-MSCs than in C-MSCs. After cocultures with MCF7, C- and I-MSCs show a variation in cytokine production. In detail, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-13, TGF-β and G-CSF were decreased, whereas IL-6, IL-12, IFN-γ, and IL-17 were oversecreted. Proliferation of MCF7 was significantly increased after cocultures with I-MSCs.

Inflammation at the site of origin of MSCs affects their immunobiology. Even if tumor cells increased their proliferation rate after cocultures with I-MSCs, the analysis of the cytokines, known to play a role in the interference of tumor cells with the host immune system, absolves completely the breast implants from the insult to enforce the risk of adenocarcinoma.