Possible biological and translational significance of mast cells density in colorectal cancer

Table 1 Principal studies correlating mast cell density with survival/stage in colorectal cancer patients

Ref.	Disease stage/main stages	Neoadjuvant therapy	Patients (n)/site	Methods of MCs identification	Correlation with overall survival/stage	P value
Xia et al[83]	All TNM stages	No	155	Immunohistochemistry	No with OS	NS
	(mainly II-III)		CC	primary anti-tryptase and anti-chymase abs
Xia et al[84]	Stage IIIB	No	93	Immunohistochemistry	No with OS	NS
			CC	primary anti-tryptase ab
Nielsen et al[85]	All Dukes’ stage	No	584	Immunohistochemistry	Yes, high MCD with high OS	0.02
	(mainly B-C)		CRC	primary anti-tryptase ab
Tan et al[86]	All TNM stages	NR	60	Immunohistochemistry	Yes, high MCD with high OS	< 0.01
			CRC	primary anti-tryptase and anti-chymase abs
Fisher et al[88]	All Dukes’ stage	No	331	Giemsa method	Yes, high MCD with low OS	NE
	(mainly B-C)		RC
Yodavudh et al[89]	All TNM stages	No	130	Immunohistochemistry	Yes, high MCD with low OS	< 0.0001
	(mainly II-III)		CRC	primary anti-tryptase ab
Elezoğlu et al[87]	All TNM stages	NR	204	Toluidine blue histochemistry	Yes, high MCD with high OS	0.035
	(mainly II-III)		CRC
Acikalin et al[49]	All TNM stages	No	60	Giemsa method	Yes, high MCD with low OS	0.0013
	(mainly II-III)		CRC
Gulubova et al[50]	All TNM stages	No	106	Immunohistochemistry	Yes, high MCD with low OS	0.038
	(mainly II)		CRC	primary anti-tryptase ab; toluidine blue histochemistry

CC: Colon cancer; OS: Overall survival; NS: Not significant; CRC: Colorectal cancer; MCD: Mast cell density; NR: Not reported; MCs: Minimal consistent set.