Tertiary lymphoid structure in gastric cancer and its clinical significance / 临床与实验病理学杂志

ABSTRACT

Purpose To investigate the pathological features and prognostic value of tertiary lymphoid structure (TLS) formation in gastric cancer (GC) . Methods HE staining slides were reviewed to evaluate the TLS in 163 specimens from patients with GC in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from 2006 to 2008. The validation cohort contained 63 randomly selected cases and immunohistochemical staining of MECA-79 was used to verify the accuracy of pathological assessment of TLS. Results TLS score and MECA-79 immunohistochemical staining showed significant correlation (P = 0. 002) and agreement (P = 0. 024) . The TLS was not significantly correlated to clinical pathological parameters. The patients with high level of TLS had better prognosis (P = 0. 025) with the mean survival time of 48. 54 months. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, TLS was an independent prognostic factor (P = 0. 031) . Conclusion The pathological evaluation of TLS is accurate. The formation of TLS is an important positive prognostic factor for GC patients.