Expression of galectin-3 in cervical cancer and its clinical significance
10.3781/j.issn.1000-7431.2011.02.012
- Author:
Yu-Qi ZHOU
1
Author Information
1. Department of Gynecologic Oncology
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Galectin 3;
Microchip analytical procedures;
Neoplasm metastasis;
Prognosis;
Uterine cervical neoplasms
- From:
Tumor
2011;31(2):148-153
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective: To evaluate the expression of galectin-3(Gal-3) in cervical cancer tissues and its correlation with clinicopathological and survival variables. Methods: One hundred and seventy-four patients with International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage I/II cervical carcinoma undergoing radical surgery were selected, and their cervical cancer tissues were collected. The expression of Gal-3 protein in cancer tissues was semi-quantitatively tested by tissue microarray and immunohistochemical analysis. Then the correlations of the expression of Gal-3 with the clinicopathological parameters, treatment outcomes and the survival of these patients were evaluated. Results: The positive expression rate of Gal-3 was 54.0% (94/ 174) in the cervical cancer tissues. In a univariate analysis, the positive expression of Gal-3 was closely correlated with non-squamous cell carcinoma (P=0.006), lymph vascular-space invasion (LVSI, P=0.048), deep-muscle invasion ( P= 0.001) and pelvic lymph-node metastasis (P<0.001). The multivariate analysis revealed that the expression of Gal-3 was one of the independent risk factors for predicting pelvic lymph-node metastasis. The risk factors including FIGO stage II (P<0.001), LVSI ( P=0.013), positive parametrium invasion (P=0.015), pelvic lymph-node metastasis (P<0.001) and the positive expression of Gal-3 (P=0.013) were significantly correlated with poor overall survival in these patients with cervical cancer. The tumor remission rate was lower in patients with up-regulated expression of Gal-3 (39.7%) than that in patients with down-regulated or invariant expression of Gal-3 (70.0%) after receiving preoperative radiotherapy. Conclusion: Positive expression of Gal-3 protein is a predictive factor for pelvic lymph node metastasis and worse overall survival in patients with cervical cancer. Up-regulated expression of Gal-3 protein may be associated with the resistance to radiotherapy.
