An increase in inflammatory cells related to the increase incidence of colitis and colorectal cancer

Abstract

Background: Inflammation plays an important role in colorectal cancer formation, where colitis inflammatory cells can trigger the production of free radicals that interact with genes in carcinogenesis. Meanwhile, the colonic mucosal epithelium contains goblet cells that function to prevent inflammation. This study aims to examine the correlation between the number of goblet and inflammatory cells in the colon of patients with colorectal cancer, colitis, and healthy colon and their relationship with the incidence of colorectal cancer and colitis. Methods: Histopathological samples consisting of 30 healthy colons, 30 colons with colitis, and 31 colons with colorectal cancer were examined to obtain the average cell number in 10 or the entire field of view using a light microscope with 400 magnification. Using the Pearson correlation test and Multivariate Multinomial Logistic Regression, these samples were analyzed with SPSS version 26 for Windows. Results: Consequently, the results showed a weak but insignificant negative correlation between the number of goblet and inflammatory cells in the colon with colorectal cancer (r2=0.055; p=0.200), colitis (r2 = 0.002, p = 0.833), and healthy colon (r2 = 0.110, p = 0.073). The number of inflammatory cells is significantly associated with the incidence of colorectal cancer (OR=1.326; 95%CI=1.155-1.521; p=0.000) and colitis (OR=1.374; 95%CI=1.192-1.583; p=0.000) compared to normal colon. Conclusion: An increase in inflammatory cells is significantly associated with the incidence of colorectal cancer and colitis.