{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,26]],"date-time":"2025-11-26T05:23:30Z","timestamp":1764134610095,"version":"3.46.0"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,26]],"date-time":"2025-11-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764115200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The analysis of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes often requires techniques that expand their numbers, potentially introducing bias. To address this, we performed a detailed analysis of minimally cultured TILs to evaluate whether this approach better preserves their characteristics.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The TIL culture method was based solely on tumor tissue with low IL-2 supplementation to minimize artificial alterations. The validity of this approach was confirmed by the correlation between CD3+ T cell percentages in cultures and infiltration patterns observed by immunohistochemistry. Immunophenotyping, cytokine release, and TCR repertoire analysis were used to characterize CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets and their molecular features during minimal expansions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>High TIL infiltration areas did not consistently correspond to an increased presence of any T cell subset; both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells frequently coexisted in these regions. In contrast, low TIL infiltration sections often displayed a higher proportion of CD4+ T cells. An inverse correlation between CD4+ T cell percentages and cytotoxic molecules was observed, indicating reduced cytotoxic activity in low-TIL sections with abundant CD4+ T cells. TCR repertoire analysis revealed differences between T cell subsets: CD4+ T cells were associated with longer TRA CDR3 nt and shorter TRB N(D)N nt lengths, along with lower diversity, while CD8+ T cells did not exhibit significant correlation with any TCR feature.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study highlights the distinct biological features of CD4\u207a and CD8\u207a TIL populations within the tumor microenvironment that can be preserved using a minimally expanded TIL approach. The observed associations between IHC patterns, T cell subset composition, cytotoxic potential, and TCR repertoire diversity help identify which biopsy regions yield TILs with greater therapeutic potential, thus providing guidance for TIL selection in immunotherapy.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2025.1699262","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,26]],"date-time":"2025-11-26T05:16:21Z","timestamp":1764134181000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Minimally expanded breast cancer tumor-infiltrating-lymphocytes provide guidance for therapeutic 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