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International Journal of Colorectal Disease

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Open Access 01-12-2021 | Colon Cancer | Original Article

Tumour-stroma ratio outperforms tumour budding as biomarker in colon cancer: a cohort study

Authors: Marloes A. Smit, Gabi W. van Pelt, Valeska Terpstra, Hein Putter, Rob A. E. M. Tollenaar, Wilma E. Mesker, J. Han J. M. van Krieken

Published in: International Journal of Colorectal Disease | Issue 12/2021

Abstract

The tumour-stroma ratio (TSR) and tumour budding (TB) are two high-risk factors with potential to be implemented in the next TNM classification. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the practical application of the two biomarkers based on reproducibility, independency and prognostic value. Patients diagnosed with stage II or III colon cancer who underwent surgery between 2005 and 2016 were included. Both TSR and TB were scored on haematoxylin and eosin-stained tissue sections. The TSR, based on the relative amount of stroma, was scored in increments of 10%. TB was scored following the consensus guidelines; a bud was defined as ≤ 4 tumour cells. For analysis, three categories were used. Cohen’s kappa was used for reproducibility. The prognostic value was determined with survival analysis. In total, 246 patients were included. The TSR distribution was N = 137 (56%) stroma-low and N = 109 (44%) stroma-high. The TB distribution was TB-low N = 194 (79%), TB-intermediate N = 35 (14%) and TB-high N = 17 (7%). The reproducibility of the TSR was good (interobserver agreement kappa = 0.83 and intraobserver agreement kappa = 0.82), whereas the inter- and intraobserver agreement for scoring TB was moderate (kappa 0.47 and 0.45, respectively). The survival analysis showed an independent prognostic value for disease-free survival for TSR (HR 1.57; 95% CI 1.01–2.44; p = 0.048) and for TB-high (HR 2.01; 95% CI 1.02–3.96; p = 0.043). Based on current results, we suggest the TSR is a more reliable parameter in daily practice due to better reproducibility and independent prognostic value for disease-free survival.

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Title: Tumour-stroma ratio outperforms tumour budding as biomarker in colon cancer: a cohort study
Authors: Marloes A. Smit
Gabi W. van Pelt
Valeska Terpstra
Hein Putter
Rob A. E. M. Tollenaar
Wilma E. Mesker
J. Han J. M. van Krieken
Publication date: 01-12-2021
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Keywords: Colon Cancer
Colon Cancer
Biomarkers
Published in: International Journal of Colorectal Disease / Issue 12/2021
Print ISSN: 0179-1958
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1262
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00384-021-04023-4

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Tumour-stroma ratio outperforms tumour budding as biomarker in colon cancer: a cohort study

Abstract

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