Abstract
Some studies have shown that the density of mast cells is highly correlated with tumor angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to clarify the relationship between the degree of mast cell infiltrations and clinicopathologic charasteristics, including the degree of endoglin expression as a parameter of tumor angiogenesis in colorectal cancer. A total of 178 patients with colorectal cancer were evaluated. Using light microscopy, toluidin blue staining was performed to identity mast cells in colorectal cancer tissues. The mast cells were carefully counted, and their density was graded. Microvessel quantification was perfomed immunohistochemically, using anti-endoglin monoclonal antibody. A significantly higher frequency of liver metastases and lymph node metastases was observed in cases with a high density of infiltrating mast cells. There was no relationship between the degree of mast cell infiltration and pathological type, depth of invasion, lymphatic invasion, venous invasion, and peritoneal dissemination. A significant correlation was observed between the degree of mast cell infiltration and the degree of endoglin expression. A tendency of poor prognosis was observed in cases with a high mean number of infiltrating mast cells. These results suggest that the degree of mast cell infiltration may be a useful parameter for assessing the malignant potential of colorectal cancer.
