BACKGROUND/AIMS: To determine whether preoperative natural killer (NK) cell activity has any prognostic significance in @entity694 @entity1 . METHODS: The study population consisted of 140 @entity1 with @entity694 . NK cell activity was determined within 2 weeks before surgery in 128 @entity1 and at the time of diagnosis in the remaining 12 @entity1 who either did not undergo surgery or who underwent palliative surgery only. Disease progression and postoperative prognosis were examined in relation to NK cell activity. RESULTS: Decreases in NK cell activity did not necessarily correspond to @entity5 stage. In curatively operated stage I-III diseases, preoperative NK cell activity of 20% or less correlated with poor survival. Lower activity was also associated with metachronous distant @entity3 but not with local recurrences. In particular, more than half the stage III @entity1 with attenuated NK cell activity developed @entity3 . Multivariate analysis indicated that attenuated NK cell activity was a significant parameter for predicting distant @entity3 following curative surgery for @entity694 . CONCLUSION: Preoperative NK cell activity has a significant prognostic value in curatively operated @entity694 , particularly for the development of metachronous distant @entity3 in stage III @entity1 .

Preoperative natural killer cell activity as a prognostic factor for distant XXXX following surgery for @entity694 .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity694 :: ('MESH:D003110', 'Disease') :: ['colon cancer'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['tumor'] @entity3 :: ('MESH:D009362', 'Disease') :: ['metastasis', 'metastases']
@entity3 :: (MESH:D009362,Disease) :: ['metastasis']
