Background
Materials and methods
Samples and cell lines
Antibodies and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis
Induction of MDSCs and functional analysis of tumor-induced MDSCs in vitro
Semi-quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR)
Statistical analysis
Results and discussion
Results
MDSCs are expanded in CRC patients
Elevated circulating MDSCs are associated with advanced disease stage in CRC patients
Characteristics
|
No. of patients
|
Mean of circulating MDSCs
|
P
value
| |
---|---|---|---|---|
Low (≤4.0%)
a
|
High (>4.0%)
a
| |||
Age (years)
| ||||
≤60 | 27 | 16 | 11 | |
>60 | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0.506 |
Gender
| ||||
Male | 20 | 12 | 8 | |
Female | 22 | 15 | 7 | 0.749 |
TNM stage
| ||||
I-II | 24 | 19 | 5 | |
III-IV | 18 | 8 | 10 | 0.020* |
T stage
| ||||
T2
| 3 | 1 | 2 | |
T3
| 28 | 20 | 8 | |
T4
| 11 | 6 | 5 | 0.312 (Fisher’s) |
Tumor size (cm)
| ||||
≤5 | 25 | 15 | 10 | |
>5 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 0.531 |
Lymph node metastasis
| ||||
No | 26 | 21 | 5 | |
Yes | 16 | 6 | 10 | 0.008** |
Histological grade
| ||||
Well/moderate | 24 | 18 | 6 | |
Poor/undifferentiated | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0.116 |
Venous invasion
| ||||
No | 38 | 26 | 12 | |
Yes | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0.122 |
Serum CEA (ng/mL)
| ||||
≤5 | 22 | 16 | 6 | |
>5 | 20 | 11 | 9 | 0.336 |