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Research Paper|Volume 14, Issue 4|pp 1879—1890

Galectin-9 expression predicts poor prognosis in hepatitis B virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma

Jianhua Jiao1, Dian Jiao2, Fa Yang1, Jingliang Zhang1,3, Yu Li1, Donghui Han1, Keying Zhang1, Yingmei Wang4, Rui Zhang5, An-Gang Yang5, Anhui Wang6, Weihong Wen7, Weijun Qin1
  • 1Department of Urology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China
  • 2Department of Urology, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China
  • 3Department of Health Services, Health Service Training Base, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China
  • 4State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pathology, Xijing Hospital and School of Basic Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China
  • 5State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Immunology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an 710032, China
  • 6Department of Epidemiology, School of Military Preventive Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China
  • 7Institute of Medical Research, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
* Equal contribution
Received: May 12, 2021Accepted: February 14, 2022Published: February 24, 2022
https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.203909

Copyright: © 2022 Jiao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the expression of Galectin-9 in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), evaluate its clinicopathological significance, and investigate whether Galecin-9 expression has prognostic value in HBV-associated HCC.

Methods: Immunohistochemistry staining was performed to examine the expression of Galectin-9 in paraffin-embedded tissues from 140 cases of HBV-associated HCC specimens. The association between Gal-9 expression, clinicopathological features and prognosis was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test and Cox regression analysis. Dual immunofluorescence (IF) staining was performed to identify the cell types that have positive Gal-9 expression.

Results: Among the 140 cases of HBV-associated HCC, 39 (27.9%) cases showed high Gal-9 expression (score≥6), 21 (15%) cases showed moderate Gal-9 expression (6>score≥3), 33 (23.6%) cases showed weak Gal-9 expression (3>score>0), and 47 (33.6%) cases had no detectable Gal-9 expression (score=0). Positive Gal-9 expression (score>0) was associated with lymph node metastasis (P=0.029), Ki-67 proliferation index (P=0.009) and poor prognosis. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that Gal-9 expression could be used as an independent prognostic marker for HBV-associated HCC. Dual IF staining indicated that Gal-9 was mainly expressed in CD68+CD163+ Kupffer cells (KCs) in HBV-associated HCC.

Conclusions: Gal-9 was specifically expressed in certain HBV-associated HCC. Positive Gal-9 expression was significantly associated with poor prognosis, and Gal-9 could be used as a prognostic marker in HBV-associated HCC. Specific expression of Gal-9 on KCs indicated it may have immunosuppressive function in HBV-associated HCC.