Reyes-Vallejo Tania, Conde-Rodríguez Ileana, Serna-Villalobos Jocelyn, Ramírez-Díaz Ivonne, Pérez-Villalobos Gabriela, Delgado-López Guadalupe, Vazquez-Zamora Víctor Javier, Gutiérrez-Quiroz Claudia Teresita, Ávila-Jiménez Laura, García-Carrancá Alejandro, Martínez-Acosta Liliana, Santos-López Gerardo, Reyes-Leyva Julio, Vallejo-Ruiz Verónica
Departamento de Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Puebla, México.
Posgrado en Ciencias Químicas, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México.
Onco Targets Ther. 2022 Oct 13;15:1211-1220. doi: 10.2147/OTT.S378933. eCollection 2022.
Cervical cancer (CC) is the second most frequent cancer in undeveloped countries. Serum biomarkers could be useful for evaluation of the treatment response and as a complementary means to improve diagnosis. The expression of galectin-9 is altered in cancer tissue, and higher concentrations are found in the serum of cancer patients. The objectives of this study were (a) to determine the serum galectin-9 concentration in patients with intraepithelial lesions and CC, (b) to determine if the concentration was related to the clinicopathological characteristics and (c) to determine if the galectin-9 concentration was related to its expression level in tumour tissue.
In all, 222 serum samples from women with different diagnoses, including premalignant lesions and CC, as well as samples from women with normal cytology were included in the study. The serum galectin-9 concentration was determined by ELISA. To evaluate the expression level of galectin-9 in CC tissue, immunohistochemistry was performed in 34 CC biopsy specimens.
The galectin-9 concentration in the serum of CC patients (8.171 ng/mL) was increased compared with serum from women with normal epithelia (4.654 ng/mL) and those with low-grade (4.806 ng/mL) and high-grade (5.354 ng/mL) intraepithelial lesions (p value < 0.0001). The area under the ROC curve considering the CC group and the control group was 0.882. The optimal cut-off value was ≥6.88 ng/mL, the specificity obtained was 100%, and the sensitivity was 68.2%. In the CC group, the analysis of the clinical stage showed an increase of galectin-9 in the advanced stage IV group. Serum galectin-9 was not related to the level of galectin-9 expression in tissue, which suggests that galectin-9 is not secreted by tumour cells.
The serum galectin-9 concentration is related to cancer progression, as the level of this protein is higher in patients with advanced-stage disease.
宫颈癌（CC）是不发达国家第二常见的癌症。血清生物标志物可用于评估治疗反应，并作为改善诊断的补充手段。半乳糖凝集素-9在癌组织中的表达发生改变，且在癌症患者血清中发现其浓度更高。本研究的目的是：（a）测定上皮内病变和宫颈癌患者血清半乳糖凝集素-9浓度；（b）确定该浓度是否与临床病理特征相关；（c）确定半乳糖凝集素-9浓度是否与其在肿瘤组织中的表达水平相关。
本研究共纳入222份来自不同诊断女性的血清样本，包括癌前病变和宫颈癌患者，以及细胞学正常女性的样本。采用酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA）测定血清半乳糖凝集素-9浓度。为评估半乳糖凝集素-9在宫颈癌组织中的表达水平，对34份宫颈活检标本进行了免疫组织化学检测。
宫颈癌患者血清半乳糖凝集素-9浓度（8.171 ng/mL）高于上皮正常女性（4.654 ng/mL）以及低级别（4.806 ng/mL）和高级别（5.354 ng/mL）上皮内病变女性的血清浓度（p值<0.0001）。考虑宫颈癌组和对照组的ROC曲线下面积为0.882。最佳截断值为≥6.88 ng/mL，特异性为100%，敏感性为68.2%。在宫颈癌组中，临床分期分析显示IV期晚期组半乳糖凝集素-9浓度升高。血清半乳糖凝集素-9与组织中半乳糖凝集素-9表达水平无关，这表明半乳糖凝集素-9不是由肿瘤细胞分泌的。
血清半乳糖凝集素-9浓度与癌症进展相关，因为该蛋白水平在晚期疾病患者中更高。
