title: Galectin-9 as a prognostic and predictive biomarker in bladder urothelial carcinoma.
abstract: Galectin-9, a member of the "tandem repeat" type galectins performing as animal lectins with an affinity for β-galactosides, has been well documented to exert crucial functions in immunomodulation, survival, and growth of various tumors. This study aims to reveal the clinical significance of galectin-9 in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UCB) postoperatively.
  
  
  
  We retrospectively included 202 patients with UCB who underwent radical cystectomy at a single institute from 2002 to 2014. Galectin-9 expression was assessed by immunohistochemistry on tissue microarrays. The Kaplan-Meier method was conducted to plot survival curves. Prognostic nomograms were constructed via integrating all the independent indicators from multivariate Cox analysis for recurrence-free survival (RFS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS). In addition, we evaluate whether patients with increased or decreased galectin-9 expression might benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.
  
  
  
  Low galectin-9 expression was significantly correlated with lymphovascular invasion (P = 0.002), early recurrence (P = 0.010), and short CSS (P = 0.002). Furthermore, multivariate analysis identified galectin-9 expression as a potential independent indicator for RFS (hazard ratio = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.40-0.95; P = 0.030) and CSS (hazard ratio = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.26-0.81; P = 0.008). Moreover, the benefit associated with adjuvant chemotherapy was superior among galectin-9 low patients than among galectin-9 high patients (P = 0.014).
  
  
  
  Expression of galectin-9 is an independent prognostic factor for RFS and CSS in patients with UCB. Evaluation of galectin-9 expression may predict the benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yidong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zewei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hangcheng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Weisi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Ninth People׳s Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: wang_yiwei@yeah.net.
authors.forename: Yiwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: jjxufdu@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jiejie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D005260:Female; D037161:Galectins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D001749:Urinary Bladder Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D037161:Galectins
keywords: Adjuvant chemotherapy; Bladder cancer; Galectin-9; Predictive biomarker; Prognosis