title: Increased intratumoral neutrophil in colorectal carcinomas correlates closely with malignant phenotype and predicts patients' adverse prognosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Substantial evidence suggests that the presence of inflammatory cells plays a critical role in the development and/or progression of human tumors. Neutrophils are the common inflammatory cells in tumors; however, the infiltration of intratumoral neutrophils in colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and its effect on CRC patients' prognosis are poorly understood.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this study, the methods of tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to investigate the prognostic significance of intratumoral CD66b+ neutrophil in CRC. According to receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the cutoff score for high intratumoral CD66b+ neutrophil in CRC was defined when the mean counts were more than 60 per TMA spot. In our study, high intratumoral CD66b+ neutrophil was observed in 104/229 (45.4%) of CRCs and in 29/229 (12.7%) of adjacent mucosal tissues. Further correlation analysis showed that high intratumoral neutrophil was positively correlated with pT status, pM status and clinical stage (P<0.05). In univariate survival analysis, a significant association between high intratumoral neutrophil and shortened patients' survival was found (P<0.0001). In different subsets of CRC patients, intratumoral neutrophil was also a prognostic indicator in patients with stage II, stage III, grade 2, grade 3, pT1, pT2, pN0 and pN1 (P<0.05). Importantly, high intratumoral neutrophil was evaluated as an independent prognostic factor in multivariate analysis (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results provide evidence that increased intratumoral neutrophil in CRC may be important in the acquisition of a malignant phenotype, indicating that the presence of intratumoral neutrophil is an independent factor for poor prognosis of patients with CRC.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Hui-Lan
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Jie-Wei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yong-Bo
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Yi-Xin
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Mu-Yan
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000378:metabolism; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000378:metabolism; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D020556:Neutrophil Infiltration; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D010641:Phenotype; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; C504120:CEACAM8 protein, human; D015815:Cell Adhesion Molecules; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins