Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Virchows Arch. 2012 Dec;461(6):639-46. doi: 10.1007/s00428-012-1338-4. Epub 2012 Nov 13.
As macrophages are some of the first cells to encounter metastatic tumor cells in sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) and natural killer (NK) cells are critical to the cytotoxicity of abnormal cells, we sought to determine if these cell populations were altered in the presence of nodal metastasis. We used immunohistochemistry to assess the SLN of 47 patients with breast cancer (36 with nodal metastasis and 11 without nodal metastasis) and 10 control lymph nodes. We assessed metastatic areas and nonmetastatic areas separately for CD163, a marker of macrophages, and ANK-1, a marker for precursors of activated NK cells. Positively stained cells were manually counted in multiple high-power fields and averaged. Groups were compared with the Kruskal-Wallis test. Spearman rank order test was used for correlations. There was a lower frequency of CD163(+) macrophages in the SLN of patients with breast cancer (median, 11.0 %; range, 4.1-20.4 %) than controls (median, 16.5 %; range, 8.9-19.6 %; p = 0.002). There were no differences in the expression of ANK between patients with cancer (median, 1.4 %; range, 0.23-6.3 %) and controls (median, 1.5 %; range, 0.60-5.4 %; p = 0.5). In patients with nodal metastasis, the accumulation of CD163(+) cells in the sinuses correlated negatively with CD8(+) tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (r (2) = 0.23; p = 0.001). These results suggest that the reduction of CD163(+) macrophages in the sinuses of the SLN is associated with nodal metastasis and may have a role in regional immunity.
作为最先遇到前哨淋巴结（SLN）中转移性肿瘤细胞的细胞之一，自然杀伤（NK）细胞对异常细胞的细胞毒性至关重要，因此我们试图确定在存在淋巴结转移的情况下这些细胞群是否发生改变。我们使用免疫组织化学方法评估了 47 例乳腺癌患者（36 例有淋巴结转移，11 例无淋巴结转移）和 10 例对照淋巴结的 SLN。我们分别评估了 CD163（巨噬细胞的标志物）和 ANK-1（活化 NK 细胞前体的标志物）在转移性区域和非转移性区域的表达。在多个高倍视野中手动计数阳性染色细胞并取平均值。使用 Kruskal-Wallis 检验比较组间差异。采用 Spearman 秩相关检验进行相关性分析。乳腺癌患者 SLN 中 CD163（+）巨噬细胞的频率低于对照组（中位数 11.0%；范围 4.1-20.4%；p=0.002）。癌症患者（中位数 1.4%；范围 0.23-6.3%）和对照组（中位数 1.5%；范围 0.60-5.4%）之间 ANK 的表达无差异（p=0.5）。在有淋巴结转移的患者中，窦内 CD163（+）细胞的聚集与 CD8（+）肿瘤浸润淋巴细胞呈负相关（r²=0.23；p=0.001）。这些结果表明，SLN 窦内 CD163（+）巨噬细胞的减少与淋巴结转移有关，可能在区域免疫中发挥作用。
