The Importance of the Eosinophil in Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract

In a previous study, we found tumor-associated tissue eosinophilia (TATE) to be a favorable prognostic indicator for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (p less than 0.05). The present expanded study was undertaken to confirm this finding. The pathology of 120 head and neck tumors was examined for histologic features suggestive of poor prognosis. Ten descriptive histopathologic variables, including two malignancy grading scales, were correlated with DNA flow cytometric data and clinical outcome. No correlation was found between the malignancy grading scales and DNA flow cytometric data or clinical outcome. The present expanded study confirmed with greater statistical significance (p less than 0.001) that high-grade TATE is a favorable prognostic indicator for head and neck cancer. Furthermore, high-grade TATE was associated with the absence of distant metastasis (p less than 0.05). Using a stepwise logistic regression analysis of the clinicopathologic variables in the study, high-grade TATE was the most influential variable affecting clinical outcome, followed by border, stage, and perineural invasion. We conclude that the grade of TATE is a significant prognostic indicator for head and neck cancer. The significance and possible role of the eosinophil in the tumor-host interaction are discussed.

Intercellular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1, Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1, and Regulated on Activation Normal T Cell Expressed and Secreted Are Expressed by Human Breast Carcinoma Cells and Support Eosinophil Adhesion and Activation

“…4 In vitro, eosinophils can enhance the tumoricidal activity of macrophages 34 and in vivo, blood eosinophilia or eosinophil infiltration into some tumors is associated with improved prognosis. 3,7,8,35 Despite the overwhelming data showing that eosinophils are associated with numerous types of cancer, little is known about the molecular mechanisms required for localization of eosinophils to these sites.…”

“…There are several studies that suggest that eosinophil tumor infiltration is associated with improved prognosis. 3,7,35 There are an equal number of studies showing either no role for eosinophils or an association with a poor prognosis. [42][43][44] Recently it has been suggested that eosinophils may not play a direct role in tumor cell clearance, but may instead participate in tissue remodeling.…”

“…1 Eosinophils are also found in many types of human cancers including both hematological cancers such as Hodgkin's lymphoma 2 as well as solid tumors. 3,4 Deposition of eosinophilic granular proteins has been found in breast, 5 ovarian, and uterine tumors 6 and in some studies the presence of eosinophils is one indicator of increased survival. 7,8 Thus, there is increasing evidence showing that eosinophils infiltrate into tumor sites, suggesting that these cells may play a role in host-tumor interactions.…”

Human Eosinophils Exert TNF-α and Granzyme A-Mediated Tumoricidal Activity toward Colon Carcinoma Cells

“…Several epidemiological studies have attempted to correlate TATE and cancer prognosis or to study the relationships between allergy-related disorders and cancer development (5,6). Even though the beneficial effect of TATE remains controversial, the presence of eosinophils appears as an indicator of good prognosis indicator in some cancers, such as head and neck cancers (7)(8)(9) and gastrointestinal cancers (10), particularly in colorectal cancers, in which high eosinophil counts were associated to increased 5-y survival (11). Clinical observations that eosinophil accumulation in intestinal tumors was associated to a better prognosis have been recently supported by experimental data in murine models (12)(13)(14).…”

Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) autologous vaccine approved for treatment of men with asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic castrate-resistant metastatic prostate cancer

“…While IgG and IgM could induce antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, opsonization for tumoricidal macrophages or complement-mediated lysis, there has been no data offered to support this. Eosinophilia has been observed in many human cancers 9,10 and as a positive prognostic indicator in some, [11][12][13][14][15][16] and rodent models show eosinophilic anti-tumor activity. 17 However, their role in the clinical tumor microenvironment is quite unclear.…”