Mast cell variations in tumour tissue and with histopathological grading in specimens of prostatic adenocarcinoma.
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the number of mast cells (MCs) varies in and around prostatic carcinoma tissue, and with histopathological grading. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Specimens of 27 prostatic carcinomas were stained with the toluidine blue and staged histopathologically using the Gleason grading system. The MCs were counted in five high-power microscopy fields within and around the tissue samples, and the results analysed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Spearman's correlation. RESULTS: The mean number of MCs was 1.7 per field within and 3.31 per field around the cancer tissue, the difference between these being significant (P<0. 05). There was a close correlation between the numbers of MCs within the tumour and Gleason grade (r=0.56, P=0.002) but not between grade and counts around the tumour (r=-0.18, P=0.35). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that some MCs aggregate at the periphery of the prostatic adenocarcinoma and that the number of MCs within the tumour tissue is related to tumour differentiation.