title: Expression of the galectin-9-Tim-3 pathway in glioma tissues is associated with the clinical manifestations of glioma.
abstract: Glioma is known to induce local and systemic immunosuppression, which inhibits antitumor T cell responses. The galectin-9-Tim-3-pathway negatively regulates T cell pathways in the tumor immunosuppressive environment. The present study assessed the expression of Tim-3 and galectin-9 in glioma patients, and evaluated the association between the expression of Tim-3 and galectin-9 with clinical characteristics. The present study identified that Tim-3 expression was significantly increased in peripheral blood T cells of glioma patients compared with those of healthy controls, and was additionally increased on tumor-infiltrating T cells. The expression of Tim-3 on tumor-infiltrating T cells was associated with the World Health Organization (WHO) grade of glioma, but negatively correlated with the Karnofsky Performance Status score of the glioma patients. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the expression of galectin-9 in tumor tissues was associated with Tim-3 expression on tumor-infiltrating T cells and the WHO grade of glioma. These findings suggest that the galectin-9-Tim-3 pathway may be critical in the immunoevasion of glioma and may be a potent target for immunotherapy in glioma patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zengjin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Huamin
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shouwei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chenxing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100093, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chunjiang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institute of Biophysics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shengdian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: T cells; Tim-3; clinical manifestation; galectin-9; glioma; immunoevasion