The prognostic relevance of innate immune cells infiltrating colorectal carcinoma lesions is highly debated. By evaluating the expression of myeloperoxidase (MPO) as a marker of neutrophil granulocytes in a large cohort of colorectal carcinoma specimens, we have observed that robust tumor-infiltration by MPO+ cells correlates with improved patient survival independently of other histopathological parameters, including disease stage.
Keywords: CD15; human colorectal cancer; mismatch repair status; myeloperoxidase; prognosis; tissue microarray.