Table 2.
Correlations between serum MMP-8 levels, markers of systemic inflammation and the density of tumour-infiltrating inflammatory cells
| Unadjusted | Adjusted | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pearson r | p Value | β | p Value | |
| Systemic inflammatory markers | ||||
| Serum C-reactive protein | 0.324 | 5.9E–8 | 0.220 | 2.3E–4 |
| Serum albumin | −0.203 | 0.001 | −0.130 | 0.026 |
| Blood neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio | 0.436 | 6.8E–14 | 0.379 | 3.0E–11 |
| Blood neutrophil count | 0.467 | 5.9E–16 | 0.399 | 1.9E–12 |
| Blood lymphocyte count | −0.099 | 0.106 | −0.080 | 0.167 |
| Tumour-infiltrating immune cells | ||||
| CD3 IM | −0.162 | 0.008 | −0.045 | 0.461 |
| CD3 CT | −0.067 | 0.268 | 0.020 | 0.745 |
| CD3 IEL | −0.068 | 0.267 | 0.024 | 0.696 |
| CD8 IM | −0.073 | 0.233 | 0.030 | 0.616 |
| CD8 CT | −0.067 | 0.272 | 0.014 | 0.818 |
| CD8 IEL | −0.024 | 0.701 | 0.060 | 0.327 |
| FoxP3 IM | −0.198 | 0.001 | −0.071 | 0.267 |
| FoxP3 CT | −0.187 | 0.002 | −0.060 | 0.358 |
| CD68 IM | −0.075 | 0.221 | −0.001 | 0.980 |
| CD68 CT | 0.009 | 0.884 | 0.071 | 0.223 |
| Mast cell tryptase IM | −0.245 | 4.6E–5 | −0.167 | 0.005 |
| Mast cell tryptase CT | −0.179 | 0.003 | −0.149 | 0.010 |
| Neutrophil elastase IM | −0.099 | 0.109 | −0.009 | 0.794 |
| Neutrophil elastase CT | −0.025 | 0.688 | 0.008 | 0.894 |
The correlations were adjusted for tumour stage variables (T1–2 vs. T3–4; N0 vs. N1–2; M0 vs. M1), patient age and patient gender by multiple linear regression.
CT centre of tumour, IEL intraepithelial, IM invasive margin