title: The relationship between tumour T-lymphocyte infiltration, the systemic inflammatory response and survival in patients undergoing curative resection for colorectal cancer.
abstract: There is increasing evidence that both local and systemic inflammatory responses play an important role in the progression of a variety of common solid tumours. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between tumour T-lymphocyte subset infiltration, the systemic inflammatory response and cancer-specific survival in patients with colorectal cancer. In all, 147 patients undergoing potentially curative resection for colorectal cancer were studied. Circulating concentrations of C-reactive protein were measured prior to surgery. CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte infiltration of the tumour was assessed using immunohistochemistry and a point counting technique. When patients were grouped according to the percentage tumour volume of CD4+ T-lymphocytes, there was no difference in terms of age, sex, tumour site, stage and tumour characteristics. However, there was an inverse relationship between percentage tumour CD4+ T-lymphocytes and C-reactive protein (P<0.01). On univariate analysis, both C-reactive protein concentrations (P<0.001) and percentage tumour volume of CD4+ (P<0.05) T-lymphocytes were associated with cancer-specific survival. The results of the present study show that low tumour CD4+ T-lymphocyte infiltration is associated with elevated C-reactive protein concentrations and both predict poor cancer-specific survival.
authors.affiliation: University Department of Surgery, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow G31 2ER, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Canna
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: McArdle
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: McMillan
authors.forename: A-M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: McNicol
authors.forename: G W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: McKee
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: McArdle
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D016019:Survival Analysis; D018746:Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000401:mortality; D013601:T-Lymphocytes
chemical_list: D002097:C-Reactive Protein