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We examined whether the expression of thioredoxin-1 (Trx-1) was associated with patient prognosis after liver resection for metastatic colorectal cancer. Eighty-four patients underwent resection of liver metastases from colorectal cancer, leaving no macroscopic evidence of residual tumor. Immunohistochemical study was performed to evaluate the relation among Trx-1, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and redox factor-1 (Ref-1) expression and the clinicopathologic characteristics and patient survival. Thirty-seven patients (44.0%) with Trx-1-positive metastases had shorter survival after primary liver resection (P = .0003) than the 47 patients (56.0%) with Trx-1-negative metastases. The percentage VEGF-positive and Ref-1-positive metastases was significantly higher in patients with Trx-1 expression (P = .0009 and .0002, respectively). Multivariate analysis revealed that Trx-1 expression was an independent prognostic factor. Expression of VEGF and Ref-1 is associated with Trx-1 overexpression, which is related to a poor prognosis in patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer.

Although dendritic cells (DCs) play an important role in tumor immunity, there have been no reports on their role in cholangiocellular carcinoma (CCC). In 26 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections from patients with CCC, cells positive for CD83 (a marker of mature DCs), CD1a (a marker of immature DCs), and CD8 and CD4 (T cell markers) were counted, and expression of glucose-regulated protein (grp) 94, which is considered to participate in the maturation of DCs, was evaluated by immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis to study the relationship between their expression and patients' disease outcome. The number of CD83-positive DCs at the invasive margin of CCCs correlated significantly with the number of CD8-positive or CD4-positive T cells in the cancerous region and was significantly higher in grp94-positive cancer than in grp94-negative cancer (P = 0.0006). CD83-positive patients (positive cells in invasive margin > 12.4/field) had both a significantly lower incidence of lymph node metastasis (23.1% vs 69.2%; P = 0.0206) and a better outcome than CD83-negative patients (P

Although dendritic cells (DCs) play an important role in tumor immunity, their prognostic significance and factors related to mature DCs have not been addressed in metastatic liver tumors. In surgically resected, paraffin-embedded tissue sections from 70 patients with colorectal liver metastasis, CD83 (a marker of mature DCs) positive cells and cancer cells positive for the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling assay were counted. Expression of gp96, which is considered to participate in the maturation of DCs, was also evaluated. CD83-positive cells were observed predominantly in the cancer invasive margin. Patients with CD83-positive cell counts of2 per field had a significantly poorer prognosis (5-year survival rate 47.5% vs 23.1%; P=0.0184). Patients with0.83% apoptotic cancer cells had significantly higher numbers of CD83-positive cells (7.3 +/- 7.3 vs 4.0 +/- 5.1; P=0.039). Patients with immunohistochemically positive gp96 expression in tumors had significantly higher numbers of CD83-positive cells than those with negative gp96 expression (6.0 +/- 6.5 vs 1.4 +/- 2.3; P=0.0108). Patients with metachronous occurrence of liver metastasis had significantly higher numbers of CD83 positive cells than those with synchronous detection (6.3 +/- 6.5 vs 3.9 +/- 5.9; P=0.0313). Although the number of apoptotic cancer cells, degree of tumor gp96 expression, and synchronous or metachronous occurrence of liver metastasis did not directly influence patient outcome, they did influence the number of CD83-positive cells in the cancer invasive margin, which was a significant prognostic factor in patients with colorectal liver metastasis.