Tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes and survival in patients with adenocarcinoma of the oesophagus

Abstract Introduction Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and forkhead box transcription factor positive (FoxP3+ ) regulatory T-lymphocytes (TREGs) have been analyzed in a variety of tumors but not in oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Patients and methods Tissue from 130 adenocarcinomas of the oesophagus was re-evaluated in the centre and periphery of tumour, respectively, using immunohistochemical staining with anti-CD3, anti-CD4, anti-CD8, anti-CD25 and anti-FoxP3 antibodies. Patients were stratified according neoadjuvant treatment. 106 patients proceeded directly to surgery and 24 underwent pre-operative radio-chemotherapy (RCT). Results In patients without RCT, TILs were found significantly more frequently in the periphery with the exception of CD25+ cells. Patients with centrally low counts of FoxP3+ TREGs had higher tumour stages than patients with high counts ( p