Tsiatas M, et al. - Whether CD3, CD8, and FOXP3 mRNA expression, as assessed using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), has any prognostic value in terms of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in early-stage breast cancer patients treated with anthracycline-based chemotherapy was investigated. Participants were from two randomized trials and 826 tumor tissue samples were analyzed. For decreased risk of relapse in early-stage breast cancer patients, the prognostic utility of high CD3 and CD8 mRNA expression was observed. Furthermore, with recent immune-related treatment developments, high CD3 and CD8 mRNA expression in this patient population could be important in determining the most suitable therapeutic strategy.