Prognostic value of intratumoral neutrophils in advanced gastric carcinoma in a high-risk area in northern Italy.

Several lines of evidence indicate that neutrophils act nonspecifically against tumor cells. The correlation between tumor-infiltrating neutrophils (TINs) and clinicopathological features remains unclear and deserves to be investigated. To analyze the prognostic influence of TINs in gastric carcinoma, the authors selected 273 patients with advanced gastric carcinoma who underwent gastrectomy at Cremona Hospital (Lombardia, Italy) between 1990 and 1995 and followed them for a period of 5 years.

Changes in microvessel density as assessed by CD34 antibodies after primary chemotherapy in human breast cancer.

Background: Several papers have shown that quantitationof tumor angiogenesis in primary breast cancer by counting blood vessels gives an independent assessment of prognosis. The impact of chemotherapy +/- endocrine therapy on the extent of angiogenesis is unknown.

Methods: Matched pair histological tumor samples were obtained before and after primary chemotherapy from 120 breast cancer patients recruited in the same institution.