Immunohistochemical phenotyping of T cells, granulocytes, and phagocytes in the muscle of cancer patients: association with radiologically defined muscle mass and gene expression

Table 4 Comparison of characteristics of cancer patients with low muscle mass and normal muscle mass

	Normal muscle mass	Low muscle mass	p value
Total sample size, n	11	19
Males, % (n)	55 (6)	74 (14)	0.25
Age, mean years ± SD	63.5 ± 13	64.3 ± 10.4	0.89
SMI (cm²/m²), mean ± SD
Males	59 ± 4.9	44.6 ± 5.4	< 0.01
Females	47.2 ± 4.0	33.8 ± 5.7	< 0.01
Patients with stage IV, % (n)	55 (6)	74 (14)	0.25
Patients exposed to chemotherapy, % (n)	0 (0)	37 (7)	0.025
Patients with > 9 CD8 T cells per 100 fibers, % (n)	45 (5)	11 (2)	0.043

Normal muscle mass: patients with SMI (cm²/m²) within the mean ± standard deviation (SD) of 30-year-old healthy individuals (males: 60.9 ± 7.8 cm²/m²//females: 47.5 + 6.6 cm²/m²) as reported by Derstine et al. [20] Differences between groups were analyzed by Mann-Whitney U test (non-categorical variables) and Fisher’s exact test (categorical variables) where appropriate. Statistical significance p < 0.05

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