The relationships between cellular components of the peritumoural inflammatory response, clinicopathological characteristics and survival in patients with primary operable colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: The host inflammatory response is an important determinant of cancer outcome. We examined different methods of assessing the local inflammatory response in colorectal tumours and explored relationships with both clinicopathological characteristics and survival. METHODS: Cohort study of patients (n=130) with primary operable colorectal cancer and mature follow-up. Local inflammatory response at the invasive margin was assessed with: (1) a semi-quantitative assessment of peritumoural inflammation using Klintrup–Makinen (K–M) grading and (2) an assessment of individual immune cell infiltration (lymphocytes, plasma cells, neutrophils, macrophages and eosinophils). RESULTS: The peritumoural inflammatory response was K–M low grade in 48% and high grade in 52%. Inflammatory cells were primarily macrophages, lymphocytes and neutrophils with relatively few plasma cells or eosinophils. On univariate analysis, K–M grade, lymphocyte infiltration and plasma cell infiltration were associated with cancer-specific survival. On multivariate analysis, only systemic inflammatory response, TNM (tumour, node and metastases) stage, venous invasion, tumour necrosis and K–M grade were independently associated with cancer-specific survival. There was no relationship between local infiltration of inflammatory cells and a systemic inflammatory response. However, high K–M grade, lymphocyte infiltration and plasma cell infiltration were associated with a number of favourable pathological characteristics, including an absence of venous invasion. CONCLUSION: Infiltration of inflammatory cells in the invasive margin of colorectal tumours is beneficial to survival. The adaptive immune response appears to have a prominent role in the prevention of tumour progression in patients with colorectal cancer.