Objective: To investigate the relationship between the expression of microtubule-associated protein LC3 and the numbers of CD68 + microglia, CD4 + T lymphocytes and CD8 + T lymphocytes, as well as the clinical significance of those factors in gliomas.
Patients and methods: The study group consisted of 127 patients with gliomas who were operated to our hospital, we examined the expression of LC3 by Immunohistochemistry and Western blot, and we assessed the numbers of CD68 + microglia, CD4 + T lymphocytes and CD8 + T lymphocytes by Immunohistochemistry, we analyze the relationship between all the factors and explore the significance.
Results: Immunohistochemistry and Western blotting showed that the expression of LC3 in normal brain tissue, low-grade gliomas, and high-grade gliomas are elevated to varying degrees (P < 0.01); Immunohistochemical detection showed that the numbers of CD68 + microglia, CD4 + T lymphocytes and CD8 + T lymphocytes in gliomas was higher than that in normal brain tissues (P < 0.01), and the high-grade gliomas were higher than those in low-grade gliomas (P < 0.01); The results of Spearman correlation showed that the expression of LC3 was positively correlated with the numbers of CD68 + microglia, CD4 + T lymphocytes, and CD8 + T lymphocytes (P < 0.05); Furthermore, survival analysis showed that LC3, CD68 + microglia, CD8 + T lymphocytes and tumor grade were independent prognostic factors of glioma.
Conclusions: LC3 may be one of the factors that affect the tumor cellular immunity response in gliomas. The simultaneous detection of LC3, CD68 + microglia and CD8 + T lymphocytes can be used to assess the prognosis of glioma.
Keywords: CD4+ T lymphocytes; CD68+ microglia; CD8+ T lymphocytes; Glioma; LC3.
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