Differential Expression of T cell Immunoglobulin Mucin Molecule 3 and Galectin-9 in Patients with Different Cervical Diseases after HPV Infection

JIANG Hongmei; DENG Yong; WU Dongmei

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1672-7185.2023.12.014

Abstract：Objective To investigate the expression and significance of T cell immunoglobulin mucin molecule 3(Tim-3)and galactose lectin 9(galectin-9,Gal-9)in cervical diseases with human papillomavirus(HPV)infection.Methods A total of 87 patients with HPV infection admitted to The Second People's Hospital Affiliated to Fujian University of Chinese Medicine from January 2022 to June 2023 were selected as the research subjects.Among them,19 patients with chronic cervicitis caused by simple HPV infection were included in the cervicitis group,20 patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1(CIN I)were included in the low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion(LSIL)group,21 patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or 3(CIN2,CIN3)were included in the high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion(LSIL)group,and 27 patients with cervical cancer were included in the cervical cancer group.Immunohistochemical method was used to detect the expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 in cervical tissues among four groups.and the expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 were compared among the four groups.The relationship between Tim-3,Gal-9 and the clinical characteristics were analyzed.Results The expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 in the cervical cancer group were significantly higher than those in the HSIL group,the LSIL group and cervicitis group(P<0.05).The Tim-3 and Gal-9 expression levels showed no difference in ages,pathological types,depth of infiltration,and lesion size in cervical cancer(P>0.05),while the Tim-3 and Gal-9 expressions were significantly increased in poorly differentiated,stage Ⅲ～Ⅳ,and lymph node metastasis patients(P<0.05).Conclusion With the increase of HPV infection grade in cervical lesions,the expression levels of Tim-3 and Gal-9 show a gradually increasing trend,and are closely related to the staging,differentiation,lymph node metastasis,and prognosis of cervical cancer patients.