Peripheral lymphocyte and eosinophil counts as indicators of prognosis in primary breast cancer.

As a part of a major study on the pathophysiologic indices for recurrence of human breast cancer, preoperative eosinophil and lymphocyte counts were determined on 419 and 581 primary breast cancer patients, respectively. Patients with lymphocyte counts less than or equal to 1500/mm3 and/or eosinophil counts of less than 55/mm3 had significantly higher risk of recurrent disease than those patients who had normal or high levels of eosinophils and/or lymphocytes. These findings may indicate that the immunologic activities of eosinophils and lymphocytes enhance the patients' ability to respond against disease.