Expression of human leukocyte antigen-G in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its significance

Abstract

Objective To investigate the expression of human leukocyte antigen-G (HLA-G) in patients with primary esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its significance in the diagnosis and prognosis of ESCC. Methods Immunohistochemical SP method was used to detect the expression of HLA-G in 121 patients with primary ESCC admitted to Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital from January 2013 to January 2018. The relationship between expression of HLA-G and clinicopathological parameters and host immune response was compared by χ2 test and analysis of variance. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and Cox regression model was used for multivariate analysis. Results The expression rate of HLA-G in patients with primary ESCC was 90.9% (110/121). The expression of HLA-G had relationship with tissue differentiation (χ2 = 41.695, P = 0.001), the depth of tumor invasion (χ2 = 120.432, P = 0.001), lymph node metastasis (χ2 = 6.297, P = 0.043), clinical TNM stage (χ2 = 110.394, P = 0.001), and there was a statistically significant difference in host immune response among patients with different HLA-G expression levels (F = 3.190, P = 0.048). The survival rate of HLA-G-negative patients was significantly higher than that of HLA-G-positive patients [72.7% (8/11) vs. 33.9% (20/59)], and the difference was statistically significant (χ2 = 10.036, P = 0.001). The expression of HLA-G and TNM stage were independent factors affecting the prognosis of patients with primary ESCC (HR=2.99, 95% CI 1.52-5.88, P = 0.002; HR=1.95, 95% CI 1.47-3.13, P = 0.049). Conclusion HLA-G is highly expressed in ESCC tissues, and HLA-G expression is associated with the prognosis of patients with ESCC. Key words: Esophageal neoplasms; Carcinoma, squamous cell; HLA antigens; Immunohistochemistry