Clinical significance of LSECtin and its association with PVR in non-small-cell lung cancer patients

Yizhong Zhang; Huanling Lai; Peipei Chen; Dan Li; Imran Khan; Wen Luan Wendy Hsiao; Xingxing Fan; Xiaojun Yao; Qibiao Wu; Meifang Wang; Elaine Laihan Leung

doi:10.21037/atm-20-3665

Clinical significance of LSECtin and its association with PVR in non-small-cell lung cancer patients

Ann Transl Med. 2020 Nov;8(21):1393. doi: 10.21037/atm-20-3665.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Macau Institute For Applied Research in Medicine and Health, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau (SAR), China.
² Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China.
³ Department of Pathology, Taihe Hospital, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China.
⁴ Hubei Key Laboratory of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China.

Abstract

Background: Liver and lymph node sinusoidal endothelial cell C-type lectin (LSECtin) is one of the new generation immune checkpoint ligand molecules and plays an important role in the immune environment. Poliovirus receptor (PVR), as another immunosuppression-related molecule, is upregulated in various malignant tumors. However, the clinical value of LSECtin and the correlation of LSECtin with PVR in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain to be elucidated. In this study, a retrospective study was performed to address these issues.

Methods: This retrospective study included 98 patients with NSCLC. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to detect the expression of LSECtin and PVR in the paraffin-embedded tumor tissue specimens. LSECtin was analyzed for associations with the survival rate and overall survival (OS) of the subjects. The mRNA expression of LSECtin and PVR was assessed using the expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Clinical characteristics, prognosis, and the expression of LSECtin and PVR were included in the statistical analysis.

Results: High positive rates of LSECtin were found in the patients with NSCLC who were nonsmokers, at advanced stages, or had lung adenocarcinoma. Patients with positive LSECtin expression had a significantly lower survival rate (P=0.008) and shorter OS (P=0.017) than those with negative LSECtin. Significant correlation was found between the LSECtin and PVR expression in the patients with NSCLC (P<0.001).

Conclusions: The increased expression of LSECtin was related to the poor prognosis of patients with NSCLC after tumor resection and has the potential value for predicting the prognosis of these patients. The positive correlation between LSECtin and PVR in NSCLC provides a theoretical basis for the future combination therapy of immune checkpoints.

Keywords: Liver and lymph node sinusoidal endothelial cell C-type lectin (LSECtin); immune checkpoint; non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); overall survival; poliovirus receptor.