Abstract
BackgroundThe aberrant expression of N-glycolyl GM3 ganglioside (NeuGcGM3) in patients with sarcomas was reevaluated by assessing the relation of this molecule with some clinicopathological features and overall survival (OS) of patients.MethodsFifty formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded specimens from patients diagnosed with sarcomas were included. For the evaluation of NeuGcGM3, the 14F7 monoclonal antibody followed by a peroxidase avidin-biotin system was used. Clinicopathological features were obtained from patient records. Survival rates were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. For multivariate analyses, the Cox regression model was used to identify independent prognostic factors for OS.ResultsThe majority of samples had high levels of NeuGcGM3 expression (66.0%) that showed statistical correlation with age (p = 0.014), TNM stage (p = 0.022), histological grade (p = 0.013) and proliferation rates (p = 0.012). In addition, a tendency for association with tumor depth (p = 0.070) was evidenced. In univariate survival analysis, TNM stage (p = 0.000), occurrence of metastasis (p = 0.000) and expression of NeuGcGM3 (p = 0.034) were significant prognostic factors for OS, while a tendency for association was evidenced for histological grade (p = 0.091). Among these variables, only the presence of metastasis (p = 0.001) was an independent prognostic factor on multivariate analysis.ConclusionsThe present research suggests the evaluation of NeuGcGM3 expression as a complementary prognostic factor in sarcoma, although our results need to be validated in a larger series and prospective studies. Moreover, our results could support the use of this molecule as a target for immunotherapy.
Highlights
The aberrant expression of N-glycolyl GM3 ganglioside (NeuGcGM3) in patients with sarcomas was reevaluated by assessing the relation of this molecule with some clinicopathological features and overall survival (OS) of patients
Soft Tissue Sarcomas (STS) are a heterogeneous group of tumors that originate from primitive mesenchymal tissue, which account for about 1% of all human malignancies
Our findings suggest the contribution of NeuGcGM3 to tumor growth and progression, further studies in larger series with better distribution by each stage and histological subtype are required
Summary
The aberrant expression of N-glycolyl GM3 ganglioside (NeuGcGM3) in patients with sarcomas was reevaluated by assessing the relation of this molecule with some clinicopathological features and overall survival (OS) of patients. The N-acetylneuraminic acid (NeuAc) is the most common variant of sialic acid, while the presence of N-glycolylneuraminic acid (NeuGc) is limited due to an inactivating mutation in the cytidine. An increased expression of NeuGcGM3 was detected in 59.3–100% of sarcomas, independently of the histological subtype [9], while the presence of this molecule in normal tissues was scarce [7, 11]. This fact permitted to consider NeuGcGM3 as an attractive target for both active and passive immunotherapy. The role of NeuGcGM3 in the aggressive biological behavior of sarcomas still remains unclear
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