Serum Levels of Galectin-9 are Increased in Cervical Cancer Patients and are Higher in Advanced Clinical Stages

• Published in: OncoTargets and therapy Vol. 15; pp. 1211 - 1220
• Main Authors: 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
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Macclesfield Dove Medical Press Limited 01.01.2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd; Dove; Dove Medical Press
• Subjects: Biopsy; Breast cancer; Cancer patients; Care and treatment; Cellular biology; Cervical cancer; Cervix; Cytology; Development and progression; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Galectin-9; Immunohistochemistry; Lesions; Medical prognosis; Medical research; Medicine, Experimental; Original Research; Patients; premalignant lesions; prognostic markers; serum biomarker; Serum levels; Software; Tumors; Womens health; Mexico; Taiwan; United States > US
• ISSN: 1178-6930; 1178-6930
• DOI: 10.2147/OTT.S378933

Purpose: 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. Patients and Methods: 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. Results: 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 [greater than or equal to]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. Conclusion: The serum galectin-9 concentration is related to cancer progression, as the level of this protein is higher in patients with advanced-stage disease. Keywords: galectin-9, serum biomarker, prognostic markers, cervical cancer, premalignant lesions