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©The Author(s) 2018. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Clinical correlation of B7-H3 and B3GALT4 with the prognosis of colorectal cancer
Ting Zhang, Fang Wang, Jing-Yi Wu, Zhi-Chao Qiu, Yan Wang, Fen Liu, Xiao-Song Ge, Xiao-Wei Qi, Yong Mao, Dong Hua
Ting Zhang, Fen Liu, Dong Hua, Institute of Cancer, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214062, Jiangsu Province, China
Fang Wang, Jing-Yi Wu, Zhi-Chao Qiu, Yan Wang, Xiao-Song Ge, Yong Mao, Dong Hua, Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214062, Jiangsu Province, China
Fang Wang, Jing-Yi Wu, Zhi-Chao Qiu, Yan Wang, Wuxi School of Medicine, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, Jiangsu Province, China
Xiao-Wei Qi, Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214062, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang T, Ge XS, Qi XW, Mao Y and Hua D designed the research; Zhang T, Wu JY, Qiu ZC, Wang Y and Liu F performed the research; Zhang T and Wang F analyzed the data; Zhang T, Wang F and Wu JY wrote the paper; Ge XS, Qi XW, Mao Y and Hua D revised the paper.
Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, No. BK20171150 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81502042.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University Institutional Review Board.
Conflict-of-interest statement: To the best of our knowledge, no conflict of interest exists.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dong Hua, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangnan University, 200 Huihe Road, Wuxi 214062, Jiangsu Province, China. wx89211@163.com
Telephone: +86-510-88682109 Fax: +86-510-85808820
Received: May 11, 2018
Peer-review started: May 11, 2018
First decision: May 16, 2018
Revised: May 25, 2018
Accepted: June 25, 2018
Article in press: June 25, 2018
Published online: August 21, 2018
AIM
To investigate the expression and clinical significance of B7 homolog 3 (B7-H3) and β-1,3-galactosyltransferase-4 (B3GALT4) in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.
METHODS
Using tissue microarray, we identified the expression of B7-H3 and B3GALT4 in 223 CRC patient samples by immunohistochemistry and evaluated the possible correlation between B7-H3 and B3GALT4 and clinical outcomes. Further, the mRNA and protein expression were identified to establish the regulatory relationship of B7-H3 with B3GALT4 in vitro.
RESULTS
A significant positive correlation between B7-H3 and B3GALT4 was observed in CRC specimens (r = 0.219, P = 0.001). High expression of B7-H3 was identified as a significant independent predictor of poor overall survival (OS) [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.781; 95%CI: 1.027-3.089; P = 0.040]. Moreover, high expression of B3GALT4 was also recognized as an independent predictor of inferior OS (HR = 1.597; 95%CI: 1.007-2.533; P = 0.047). Additionally, CRC patients expressing both high B7-H3 and high B3GALT4 contributed to a significant decrease in OS (HR = 2.283; 95%CI: 1.289-4.042; P = 0.005). In CRC cell lines with stable expression of high B7-H3, the mRNA and protein expressions of B3GALT4 were significantly upregulated. Similarly, the expression of B3GALT4 was significantly reduced when expression of B7-H3 was knocked down.
CONCLUSION
The expression of B3GALT4 in CRC is positively correlated with B7-H3 expression in vitro. B7-H3/B3GLAT4 may be used as dual prognostic biomarkers for CRC.
Core tip: The present study for the first time revealed the expression of β-1,3-galactosyltransferase-4 (B3GALT4) in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its correlation with B7 homolog 3 (B7-H3) in vitro. Overall, the findings of the present study suggest that B7-H3 and B3GALT4 are novel prognostic biomarkers for CRC and highlight the significance of both B7-H3 and B3GALT4 as promising therapeutic targets for CRC. Thus, here we present our preliminary work on the relationship of the immune function and glycosylation of tumor-associated protein in CRC.
