T cell populations in lymph nodes and colorectal cancer outcomes
Author Information
Author(s): Roslyn A Kemp, Michael A Black, John McCall, Han-Seung Yoon, Vicky Phillips, Ahmad Anjomshoaa, Anthony E Reeve
Primary Institution: University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Hypothesis
The priming environment of an anti-tumour immune response would be a useful predictor of patient outcome.
Conclusion
The frequency of T cell subsets in lymph nodes may not be a useful tool for predicting patient outcome in colorectal cancer.
Supporting Evidence
- No association was found between T cell populations and cancer recurrence.
- The study included 31 patients with stage II colorectal cancer.
- The analysis showed high variability in T cell populations between patients.
Takeaway
Doctors looked at T cells in the lymph nodes of colon cancer patients to see if they could predict how well the patients would do, but they found no connection.
Methodology
Immunohistochemistry was used to analyze T cell populations in lymph nodes of stage II colorectal cancer patients.
Potential Biases
The lack of healthy control tissue may have influenced the results.
Limitations
The study had a small sample size and did not identify sentinel nodes, which are believed to be the primary priming site for the anti-tumour immune response.
Participant Demographics
{"age":{"mean":71.54,"sd":10.48},"gender":{"male_percentage":39,"female_percentage":61}}
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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