Table 1.
Clinicopathologic characteristics of cases grouped by abundance of podoplanin-positive cancer-associated fibroblasts
| Characteristic | Podoplanin-positive CAFs | Total (n = 59) | P-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||
| Low (n = 28) | High (n = 31) | |||
| Podoplanin in tumor cells (%) | ||||
| High | 9 (32) | 16 (52) | 25 (42) | 0.13 |
| Low | 19 (68) | 15 (48) | 34 (58) | |
| Age at diagnosis | ||||
| Mean ± SD | 59 ± 14 | 55 ± 11 | 57 ± 13 | 0.19 |
| Median (min; max) | 59 (38; 100) | 56 (38; 78) | 56 (38; 100) | |
| Gender (%) | ||||
| Female | 1 (4) | 0 (0) | 1 (2) | 0.96 |
| Male | 27 (96) | 31 (100) | 58 (98) | |
| Pre-operative CCRT (%) | ||||
| Yes | 20 (71) | 22 (71) | 42 (71) | 0.96 |
| No | 8 (29) | 9 (29) | 17 (29) | |
| Tumor grade (%) | ||||
| Grade 1 | 2 (7) | 1 (3) | 3 (5) | 0.96 |
| Grade 2 | 22 (79) | 22 (71) | 44 (75) | |
| Grade 3 | 4 (14) | 8 (26) | 12 (20) | |
| Lymphatic vessel invasion (%) | ||||
| Yes | 13 (46) | 12 (39) | 25 (42) | 0.55 |
| No | 15 (54) | 19 (61) | 34 (58) | |
| pT (%) | ||||
| pT1-2 | 6 (21) | 3 (10) | 9 (15) | 0.37 |
| pT3-4 | 22 (79) | 28 (90) | 50 (85) | |
| pN (%) | ||||
| pN0 | 11 (39) | 18 (58) | 29 (49) | 0.15 |
| pN1-3 | 17 (61) | 13 (42) | 30 (51) | |
| pM (%) | ||||
| pM0 | 27 (96) | 27 (87) | 54 (92) | 0.41 |
| pM1 | 1 (4) | 4 (13) | 5 (8) | |
| Pathologic stage (%) | ||||
| I/II | 11 (39) | 15 (48) | 26 (44) | 0.48 |
| III/IV | 17 (61) | 16 (51) | 33 (56) | |
| cT (%)* | ||||
| cT1-2 | 9 (36) | 7 (28) | 16 (32) | 0.54 |
| cT3-4 | 16 (64) | 18 (72) | 34 (68) | |
| cN (%)* | ||||
| cN0 | 6 (26) | 8 (33) | 14 (30) | 0.59 |
| cN1-3 | 17 (74) | 16 (67) | 33 (70) | |
| cM (%)* | ||||
| cM0 | 21 (95) | 21 (91) | 42 (93) | 0.96 |
| cM1 | 1 (5) | 2 (9) | 3 (7) | |
| Clinical stage (%)* | ||||
| I/II | 10 (40) | 10 (38) | 20 (39) | 0.91 |
| III/IV | 15 (60) | 16 (62) | 31 (61) | |
*
Some cases excluded due to incomplete pre-treatment clinical staging;
CAFs = cancer-associated fibroblasts; SD = standard deviation; CCRT = concurrent chemoradiotherapy.