Kasper HU, Drebber U, Stippel DL, Dienes HP, Gillessen A. Liver tumor infiltrating lymphocytes: Comparison of hepatocellular and cholangiolar carcinoma. World J Gastroenterol 2009; 15(40): 5053-5057 [PMID: 19859998 DOI: 10.3748/wjg.15.5053]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Dr. Hans-Udo Kasper, Department of Pathology, Medical Center, Clemenshospital Münster, Düesbergweg 128, D-48153 Münster, Germany. email@patho-muenster.de
Article-Type of This Article
Brief Article
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2009; 15(40): 5053-5057 Published online Oct 28, 2009. doi: 10.3748/wjg.15.5053
Liver tumor infiltrating lymphocytes: Comparison of hepatocellular and cholangiolar carcinoma
Hans-Udo Kasper, Uta Drebber, Dirk Ludger Stippel, Hans Peter Dienes, Anton Gillessen
Hans-Udo Kasper, Department of Pathology, Medical Center, Clemenshospital Münster, Düesbergweg 128, D-48153 Münster, Germany
Uta Drebber, Hans Peter Dienes, Department of Pathology, University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann-Strasse 9, D-50931 Köln, Germany
Dirk Ludger Stippel, Department of Visceral and Vascular Surgery, University of Cologne, Joseph-Stelzmann-Strasse 9, D-50931 Köln, Germany
Anton Gillessen, Department of Gastroenterology, Herz-Jesu-Hospital Hiltrup, Westfalenstrasse 109, D-48163 Münster, Germany
Author contributions: Kasper HU and Drebber U performed the experiments and analyzed the data; Stippel DL and Dienes HP contributed substantially to conception and design of the study; Stippel DL was responsible for acquisition of material; Gillessen A contributed to interpretation of the data; Kasper HU wrote the manuscript; Dienes HP and Gillessen A critically revised the manuscript.
Supported by Centre of Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC), Köln, Germany
Correspondence to: Dr. Hans-Udo Kasper, Department of Pathology, Medical Center, Clemenshospital Münster, Düesbergweg 128, D-48153 Münster, Germany. email@patho-muenster.de
Telephone: +49-251-764030 Fax: +49-251-7640376
Received: May 4, 2009 Revised: August 10, 2009 Accepted: August 17, 2009 Published online: October 28, 2009
Abstract
AIM: To investigate the role of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in primary hepatocellular and cholangiolar carcinomas of the liver.
METHODS: Immunohistochemical analysis was performed including antibodies to CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20, CD56 and TIA-1 in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissue of 35 liver resection specimens of hepatocellular or cholangiocellular carcinomas. Semiquantitative evaluation was performed with emphasis on the area of the tumor itself and of the tumor/liver interface.
RESULTS: All hepatocellular carcinomas showed infiltration of lymphocytes predominantly around the tumor in the tumor/liver interface consisting mainly of CD3+ CD4+ T lymphocytes [164.3/10 high power fields (HPF)] and in the tumor itself of CD8+ cells (54.9/10 HPF). Cholangiocarcinomas contained a heterogeneous amount of TIL, composed mainly of CD3+ T cells with a predominance of CD8+ cells in the tumor tissue (52.6/10 HPF) and of CD4+ cells in the interface region (223.1/10 HPF). CD56+ cells of the innate immune system were scarce. There was no significant difference between hepatocellular or cholangiolar carcinoma. No correlation with the clinicopathological data was seen.
CONCLUSION: Liver TIL consists of intratumoral CD8+ T cells and peritumoral CD4+ T cells independent of histogenetic origin. Different functions of lymphocytes in these regions seem possible.
