title: No relationship between the distribution of mast cells and the survival of stage IIIB colon cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mast cells promote the progression of experimental tumors and might be a valuable therapeutic target. However, the relevant clinical evidence is still controversial. This study analyzed the relationship between the distribution of mast cells and the survival of patients with colon cancer to study whether mast cells contribute to tumor progression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ninety-three cases of pathologically confirmed primary cancer tissues matched with adjacent normal mucosa, metastases of regional-draining lymph nodes and regional-draining lymph nodes without metastases were collected from stage IIIB colon carcinoma patients between January 1997 and July 2004 at the Cancer Center of Sun Yat-Sen University. Tryptase-positive mast cells were counted. The relationships of the distribution of mast cells with clinicopathologic parameters and 5-year survival were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although the mast cell count in the mucosa adjacent to the primary colon cancer was significantly higher than that in the stroma of the primary colon cancer, no difference in mast cell counts was observed between the stroma in lymph node metastasis and the lymph tissue adjacent to the metastasis. Additionally, the mast cell count in the regional-draining lymph node without the invasion of cancer cells was significantly higher than that in the stroma of lymph node metastasis and adjacent lymph tissue. However, none of those mast cell counts was related to 5-year survival.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although mast cell count varied with location, none of the mast cell counts was related to 5-year survival, suggesting that mast cells do not contribute to the progression of stage IIIB colon cancer.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou 510060, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Xiao-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.lastname: Jing-Zeng
authors.forename: Jing-Hui
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Zhi-Zhong
authors.initials: ZZ
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Xiao-Shi
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002452:Cell Count; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D016019:Survival Analysis