Immunogenic cell death-related biomarkers: Impact on the survival of breast cancer patients after adjuvant chemotherapy

It is well established that the anticancer immune response determines the success of anthracycline-based adjuvant chemotherapy of breast cancer. This effect is in part due to the capacity of anthracyclines to induce immunogenic cell death (ICD), a cell death modality that is preceded by autophagy and followed by HMGB1 release. Recent data on 1,798 mammary carcinoma specimens indicate that patients harboring neoplastic cells that lack immunohistochemical signs of autophagy or that have lost HMGB1 expression have indeed a poor prognosis.