Expression and clinical significance of galectin-9 in different cervical lesions and different types of human papillomavirus infection

Abstract

Objective To analyze the expression differences and clinical significance of galectin 9(Gal-9) in different cervical lesions and human papillomavirus(HPV) type infection. Methods From May 2016 to April 2018, 42 cases of cervical cancer(CC group), 45 cases of high level cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (HSIL group), 45 cases of lower cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (LSIL group) in Yangzhou Maternal and Child Health-Care Hospital were selected, and 45 cases of normal outpatient medical examination in our hospital were selected as the control group(NC group). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) method was used to detect the serum level of Gal-9.The gene amplification technique and the principle of diversion hybridization were used to detect the 37 types of HPV. Results Of women with cervical lesions, 50 cases(28.3%) were 50 years or more, the CC group had 32 cases (76.2%), HSIL group had 10 cases (22.2%), LSIL group had 8 cases (17.8%), the age of CC group compared with HSIL group and LSIL group had significant differences(t=7.959, 10.440, all P<0.01). The serum level of Gal-9 in CC group [(22.27±1.72)ng/L], HSIL group [(15.43±2.14)ng/L], LSIL group [(15.24±1.89)ng/L] was significantly higher than that in NC group [(12.08±2.13)ng/L](t=16.360, 18.100, 24.440, all P<0.05). The HPV infection rate in patients with cervical lesions reached 84.84%(112/132), the positive rate of HPV16 in CC group was 83.3%(35/42), HSIL group was dominated by HPV16(28.8%), HPV33(20.0%), HPV52(17.7%) and HPV58(13.3%), LSIL group was dominated by HPV52(26.7%), HPV58(24.4%), HPV16(20.0%) and HPV18(8.9%). There was no statistically significant difference in the levels of Gal-9 of HPV16, HPV58, HPV52 and HPV33 patients, indicated that there was no statistically significant correlation between Gal-9 level and the type of HPV infection. Conclusion Early intervention in patients with high HPV infection and Gal-9 levels can help reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. Key words: Galectins; Uterine cervical diseases; Uterine cervical neoplasms; Carcinoma, squamous cell; Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia; Human papillomavirus; Genotype; Gene expression