1. Prognostic Significance of Negative Lymph Node Long Axis in Esophageal Cancer
- Author
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Ruth E Langley, Matthew Nankivell, David Cunningham, Jessica E Ruisch, Heike I. Grabsch, Gayatri Raghuram, William H. Allum, Maximilian Kloft, Jake Emmerson, Pathologie, and RS: GROW - R2 - Basic and Translational Cancer Biology
- Subjects
Oncology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Chemotherapy ,music.instrument ,Lymphovascular invasion ,business.industry ,Surrogate endpoint ,Lymphocyte ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Germinal center ,Esophageal cancer ,medicine.disease ,Follicular hyperplasia ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Surgery ,business ,music ,Lymph node - Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between negative lymph node (LNneg) size as a possible surrogate marker of the host antitumor immune response and overall survival (OS) in esophageal cancer (EC) patients.BACKGROUND: Lymph node (LN) status is a well-established prognostic factor in EC patients. An increased number of LNnegs is related to better survival in EC. Follicular hyperplasia in LNneg is associated with better survival in cancer-bearing mice and might explain increased LN size.METHODS: The long axis of 304 LNnegs was measured in hematoxylin-eosin stained sections from resection specimens of 367 OE02 trial patients (188 treated with surgery alone (S), 179 with neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus surgery (C+S)) as a surrogate of LN size. The relationship between LNneg size, LNneg microarchitecture, clinicopathological variables, and OS was analyzed.RESULTS: Large LNneg size was related to lower pN category (P = 0.01) and lower frequency of lymphatic invasion (P = 0.02) in S patients only. Irrespective of treatment, (y)pN0 patients with large LNneg had the best OS. (y)pN1 patients had the poorest OS irrespective of LNneg size (P < 0.001). Large LNneg contained less lymphocytes (P = 0.02) and had a higher germinal centers/lymphocyte ratio (P = 0.05).CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to investigate LNneg size in EC patients randomized to neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery or surgery alone. Our pilot study suggests that LNneg size is a surrogate marker of the host antitumor immune response and a potentially clinically useful new prognostic biomarker for (y)pN0 EC patients. Future studies need to confirm our results and explore underlying biological mechanisms.
- Published
- 2023