Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 21, 2025
Author Spotlight: A Model to Study the Systemic and Local Dynamics of CD8+ T Cells During LN Metastasis
Published on: January 26, 2024
Immune microenvironment and lymph node yield in colorectal cancer
Soo Hyun Lee1, Amaya Pankaj2, Azfar Neyaz3,4
1Department of Pathology, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Background:
Lymph node (LN) harvesting is associated with outcomes in colonic cancer. We sought to interrogate whether a distinctive immune milieu of the primary tumour is associated with LN yield.
Methods:
A total of 926 treatment-naive patients with colorectal adenocarcinoma with more than 12 LNs (LN-high) were compared with patients with 12 or fewer LNs (LN-low). We performed immunohistochemistry and quantification on tissue microarrays for HLA class I/II proteins, beta-2-microglobulin (B2MG), CD8, CD163, LAG3, PD-L1, FoxP3, and BRAF V600E.
Results:
The LN-high group was comprised of younger patients, longer resections, larger tumours, right-sided location, and tumours with deficient mismatch repair (dMMR). The tumour microenvironment showed higher CD8+ cells infiltration and B2MG expression on tumour cells in the LN-high group compared to the LN-low group. The estimated mean disease-specific survival was higher in the LN-high group than LN-low group. On multivariate analysis for prognosis, LN yield, CD8+ cells, extramural venous invasion, perineural invasion, and AJCC stage were independent prognostic factors.
Conclusion:
Our findings corroborate that higher LN yield is associated with a survival benefit. LN yield is associated with an immune high microenvironment, suggesting that tumour immune milieu influences the LN yield.
