Most therapeutic decisions which affect the survival of patients with cancer are made based on data available at the time of the initial diagnosis. In general, the pathological analysis of colonic carcinomas is focused on the behavior and morphology of the epithelial components of the tumor, and the cytologic appearance of malignant cells has been emphasized with relatively less attention being given to stromal cells in the training of pathologists. We hope to extend the information which can be obtained from the study of the stromal cells from human colonic carcinomas.
The specific aims of this proposal are: 1) to determine the numbers of malignant cells and host cells of each type in primary, human colonic carcinomas with morphometric techniques; (2) to compare the number and proportion of malignant and host cells available in the tumors with those which are actually obtained in suspension; (3) to purify in the new TZ-28 reorienting zonal rotor lymphocytes, plasma cells, macrophages, granulocytes, and malignant cells from these tumors; and (4) to attempt to correlate numbers and distributions of individual kinds of host cells with (a) the stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis and (b) the survival of the patient. These correlations will be made prospectively. One of our long-term goals will be a functional study of individual kinds of stromal cells from human colonic carcinomas. I am particulary interested in the function of plasma cells which are quite numerous in a subpopulation of these tumors. To my knowledge, nobody has investigated whether or not the antibodies in the plasma cells in these tumors are directed against the tumors. Specific functional studies will depend upon the purification of large numbers of single kinds of stromal cells.
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