Stage migration vs immunology: The lymph node count story in colon cancer

Lymph node staging is of crucial importance for the therapy stratification and prognosis estimation in colon cancer. Beside the detection of metastases,the number of harvested lymph nodes itself has prognostic relevance in stage Ⅱ/Ⅲ cancers. A stage migration effect caused by missed lymph node metastases has been postulated as most likely explanation for that. In order to avoid false negative node staging reporting of at least 12 lymph nodes is recommended. However,this threshold is met only in a minority of cases in daily practice. Due to quality initiatives the situation has improved in the past. This,however,had no influence on staging in several studies. While the numbers of evaluated lymph nodes increased continuously during the last decades the rate of node positive cases remained relatively constant. This fact together with other indications raised doubts that understaging is indeed the correct explanation for the prognostic impact of lymph node harvest. Several authors assume that immune response could play a major role in this context influencing both the lymph node detectability and the tumor's behavior. Further studies addressing this issue are need. Based on the findings the recommendations concerning minimal lymph node numbers and adjuvant chemotherapy should be reconsidered.

Diel vertical migration of the copepod Calanus sinicus before and during formation of the Yellow Sea Cold Bottom Water in the Yellow Sea

To understand the effects of the Yellow Sea Cold Bottom Water （YSCBW） on the diel vertical migration （D- VM） of the copepod Calanus sinicus, we surveyed vertical distribution of C. sinicus at a fixed station in the Yellow Sea before （spring） and during （summer） formation of the YSCBW. Cold water （〈10℃） was observed in the bottom layer when the water column was thermally stratified in summer, but the water column was thermally well-mixed in spring 2010. Samples were collected from five different layers at 3-h intervals using an opening-closing net. Adult females （1-155 ind./m3） showed a clear normal DVM pattern throughout the entire water column in spring, whereas adult males did not migrate. DVM of copepodite V （CV） individuals was not clear, but the maximum abundance of CI-CIV occurred consistently in the upper 10-20 m layer, where there was a high concentration of chlorophyll-a （Chl-a） （0.49-1.19μg/L）. In summer, weak DVM was limited to cold waters beneath the thermocline for adult females （〈30 ind./m3）, but not for adult males. The maximum abundance of CI-CIV also occurred consistently in the subsurface layer （20-40 m） together with high concentrations of Chl-a （0.81-2.36 μg/L）. CV individuals （1-272 ind./m3） moved slightly upward noc- turnally to the near-surface layer （10-20 m）, where the average temperature was 25.74℃, but they were not found in the surface layer （0-10 m; 28.31℃）. These results indicate that the existence of the YSBCW affected food availability at depth and the vertical temperature distribution, leading to variation in the amplitude and shape of stage-specific vertical distributions （CI to adults） in C. sinicus before and during the formation of cold waters in the Yellow Sea during the study period.