New Insights Into the Role of Tissue Eosinophils in the Progression of Colorectal Cancer: A Literature Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20344/amp.10112Keywords:
Colorectal Neoplasms, Eosinophils, Precancerous Conditions, PrognosisAbstract
Introduction: Amongst the inflammatory cells implicated in the immune surveillance of colorectal cancer, a growing body of evidence suggests a role for eosinophils in carcinogenesis. We aimed to review the value of tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia (TATE) in the prognosis of colorectal cancer emphasizing the identification and measurement of tissue-infiltrating eosinophils and their association with the clinicopathological features of the disease.
Material and Methods: We used PubMed and Web of Science search engines to retrieve studies that looked at the association between tissue eosinophils and colorectal cancer prognosis.
Results: We selected 15 studies for our review. In the majority of the studies, eosinophils were identified in hematoxylin-eosin stained sections and scores were generated for analysis. Most of the studies pointed to tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia as a favourable prognostic marker in colorectal cancer and found an inverse association between eosinophil count and the metastatic potential of these neoplasms. The association between tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia and established prognostic markers of colorectal cancer was assessed in some studies, with inconsistent results. Additionally, tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia decreased with the adenoma-carcinoma progression of colorectal lesions.
Discussion: Several mechanisms have been proposed regarding eosinophil chemoatraction to tumour tissues and eosinophil-cancer cell cross-talk, suggesting that eosinophils are actively involved in colorectal cancer progression. Although a scoring system is still lacking, tumour-associated tissue eosinophilia meets the criteria of a convenient histopathological prognosticator in colorectal cancer.
Conclusion: Collectively, current evidence associates the presence of eosinophils in the colorectal cancer microenvironment with the modulation of tumour progression. The clinical impact of this finding deserves future research.
Downloads
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
All the articles published in the AMP are open access and comply with the requirements of funding agencies or academic institutions. The AMP is governed by the terms of the Creative Commons ‘Attribution – Non-Commercial Use - (CC-BY-NC)’ license, regarding the use by third parties.
It is the author’s responsibility to obtain approval for the reproduction of figures, tables, etc. from other publications.
Upon acceptance of an article for publication, the authors will be asked to complete the ICMJE “Copyright Liability and Copyright Sharing Statement “(http://www.actamedicaportuguesa.com/info/AMP-NormasPublicacao.pdf) and the “Declaration of Potential Conflicts of Interest” (http:// www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest). An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding author to acknowledge receipt of the manuscript.
After publication, the authors are authorised to make their articles available in repositories of their institutions of origin, as long as they always mention where they were published and according to the Creative Commons license.