gms | German Medical Science

Objective: Desbaillets et al in 1997, and Fossati et al. in 1999 and Iwatsuki et al. in 2000 showed neutrophil infiltration in glioblastomas. We wanted to confirm these observations to better understand the role of neutrophils in glioblastoma growth.

Methods: Seven glioblastoma biopsies were dually stained with H & E and an esterase stain that preferentially stains neutrophils. The entire slide was examined for neutrophils by light microscopy and micrographs were taken with a CCD camera. Areas of necrosis were avoided and not scored.

Results: Thirty-five percent of the venules had neutrophils either adherant to venule luminal wall or in various stages of penetration of the wall. Of these venules with neutrophils, intramural degranulation was common and in 11% of these venules degranulation was seen within the vessel lumen.

Conclusions: We confirm the presence of neutrophils within glioblastoma tissue but could not confirm Fossati et al. and Iwatsuki et al.'s observation of neutrophils preferentially in areas of penetration into normal brain. We saw neutrophils preferentially penetrating venules. Therapeutic implications of these findings are discussed.