In this issue

Excerpt

Is there anything that binds together the papers in anyone issue? Not really. The order of the published papers might be determined by an intention to regroup them according to theme. Otherwise, it is on a “first come, first served” basis. The first paper in the spotlight for this issue is the study of Ueno et al. (10.​1007/​s00428-015-1756-1) on the response of rectal cancer to neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy. They focused on the desmoplastic reaction in the primary tumor, which they classified according to the characteristics of the extracellular matrix. In addition, CD8+ and FoxP3+ cells were identified by immunostaining to characterize the accompanying immune response. A matrix with multilayered collagen, which they called mature, was accompanied by more CD8+ and FoxP3+ cells. This pattern was also significantly and independently associated with a better pathological response and a longer 5-year disease-free survival. The paper thus emphasizes the increasing importance of the stromal response interrelated with the immune reaction to cancer as a determining factor in tumor behavior. The cover image is from this paper and illustrates the different patterns of desmoplastic reaction observed. …