Tumor expression of B7-H4 predicts poor survival of patients suffering from gastric cancer.
To establish the prognostic value of B7-H4 expression by tumor cells in gastric cancer patients, we evaluated the association of B7-H4 expression with clinicopathologic factors and overall survival of gastric cancer patients. A retrospective cohort study including 156 gastric cancer patients was performed in the present report. Immunohistochemical assay was used to evaluate the expression of B7-H4 in the surgical specimens of gastric cancer tissues. Multi-univariate COX model was then used to evaluate the association of B7-H4 expression with the patients' survival and clinicopathological parameters. B7-H4 expression in the gastric cancer cells was observed in about 44.9% gastric cancer specimens. Univariate analysis demonstrated that there was no correlation between B7-H4 expression and sex, age, histological type, pathological grade or tumor size. In contrast, B7-H4 expression correlated positively with cancer invasiveness and lymph node metastasis. In addition, the median overall survival time of patients with lower B7-H4 expression was 13 months longer than that of patients with higher expression (chi(2) = 12.38, P < 0.0001), and the median disease-free survival time of patients with lower B7-H4 expression was significantly longer than that of patients with higher expression (33 vs. 16 months, chi(2) = 14.977, P < 0.0001). After adjustment for other confounding factors, the COX model analysis indicated that the death risk was significantly higher in patients with higher B7-H4 expression than those with lower expression (RR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.15-2.96). The present study demonstrated that higher B7-H4 expression in cancer cells was associated with poor prognosis of gastric cancer patients. This is consistent with the idea that B7-H4 promotes cancer progression, likely via inhibition of anti-tumor immune responses.
Jiang
Jingting
J
Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Soochow University, Changzhou, China.
Zhu
Yibei
Y
Wu
Changping
C
Shen
Yueping
Y
Wei
Wenxiang
W
Chen
Lujun
L
Zheng
Xiao
X
Sun
Jing
J
Lu
Binfeng
B
Zhang
Xueguang
X
D018122:B7-1 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011379:Prognosis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D015996:Survival Rate; D060907:V-Set Domain-Containing T-Cell Activation Inhibitor 1
D018122:B7-1 Antigen; D060907:V-Set Domain-Containing T-Cell Activation Inhibitor 1; C475826:VTCN1 protein, human