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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
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most prevalent gastrointestinal tract malignancy worldwide. The prognosis of CRC patients remains relatively poor. B7 homolog 3 (B7-H3) mRNA is widely expressed on many tissues and cell types. However, B7-H3 protein is not constitutively expressed on T-cells, natural killer cells and antigen-presenting cells. The β-1,3-galactosyltransferase-4 (B3GALT4), which belongs to β-1,3-galactosyltransferase (β3GalT) gene family is abundantly expressed in human organs and tissues, predominantly in brain and involved in GM1/GD1 ganglioside synthesis. The β3GalT family may be closely related to the tumor.
Research motivation
There are insufficient reports about the correlation between B3GALT4 and CRC.
Research objectives
The aim of the present study is to investigate the clinical correlation of B7-H3 and B3GALT4 with CRC, and the correlation between the expression of B7-H3 and B3GALT4 was evaluated to determine their prognostic significance in CRC.
Research methods
The authors 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. The mRNA and protein expression were also identified to establish the regulatory relationship of B7-H3 with B3GALT4 in vitro.
Research results
A significant positive correlation between B7-H3 and B3GALT4 was observed in CRC specimens. High expression of B7-H3 was identified as a significant independent predictor of poor overall survival (OS). High expression of B3GALT4 was also recognized as an independent predictor of inferior OS. In CRC cell lines with the stable expression of high B7-H3, the mRNA and protein expressions of B3GALT4 were significantly upregulated. The expression of B3GALT4 was significantly reduced when expression of B7-H3 was knocked down.
Research conclusions
The expression of B3GALT4 in CRC and its positive correlation with B7-H3 in vitro was revealed, as well as B7-H3/B3GLAT4 as dual prognostic biomarkers for CRC.
Research perspectives
The present study suggested that B7-H3 and B3GALT4 are novel prognostic biomarkers for CRC, and the significance of both B7-H3 and B3GALT4 as promising therapeutic targets for CRC are highlighted.
