Soluble adhesion molecules and cytokines in tumor-associated tissue eosinophilia of nasopharyngeal carcinoma

The phenomenon of tumor-associated tissue eosinophilia (TATE) is seen in so me cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and is characterized by the eosi nophils breaking through the vascular wall and pervading the tumor stroma. The margination and trans-endothelial migration of eosinophils in a typical inflammatory reaction depend on the activating effects of certain cytokine s and the expression of adhesion molecules on the eosinophils and endotheli al cells. In order to investigate whether the adhesion molecules and activa ting cytokines play a role in eosinophil tumor infiltration, we measured th e serum levels of 3 adhesion molecules, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, E-selectin and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, and 2 cytokines, IL-3 and IL-5, in 60 NPC patients and 40 normal healthy subjects. We found that the NPC patients had higher serum levels of all three soluble adhesion molecul es than the normal subjects but the levels of adhesion molecules failed to correlate with the TATE phenomenon. The levels of IL-3 and IL-5 appeared no t to differ between the NPC and control groups. We postulate that the three soluble adhesion molecules do not play a major role in TATE and that their elevation in serum may be due to local and/or systemic immune responses.