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Response to Article “Serum Levels of Galectin-9 are Increased in Cervical Cancer Patients and are Higher in Advanced Clinical Stages” [Letter]
Authors Panjaitan NSD , Lienggonegoro LA , Nikmah UA
Received 14 November 2022
Accepted for publication 22 November 2022
Published 25 November 2022 Volume 2022:15 Pages 1417—1418
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S396547
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Editor who approved publication: Dr Sanjeev K. Srivastava
Novaria Sari Dewi Panjaitan, Lisa Andriani Lienggonegoro, Uly Alfi Nikmah
Center for Biomedical Research, Research Organization for Health, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Cibinong Science Center, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia
Correspondence: Novaria Sari Dewi Panjaitan, Center for Biomedical Research, Research Organization for Health, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Genomic Building, Cibinong Science Center, Jl. Raya Bogor No. 490, Cibinong – Bogor Km. 46, Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, Email [email protected]
View the original paper by Ms Reyes-Vallejo and colleagues
A Response to Letter has been published for this article.
Dear editor
The study regarding galectin-9 as a biomarker for cervical cancer reported by Reyes-Vallejo et al, which was recently published, gives important information in this field.4 The concentration of galectin-9 from serum samples was measured accurately by ELISA method, while the dissected tissue collected was stained for visualizing the expression of galectin-9 in the tissue. However, the concentration detection of galectin-8, galectin-1, and galectin-3, the other three important galectin family proteins was not included.1,2 It could have been possibly performed in this study to support the final conclusion taken.
This particular study aimed to understand the correlation of the expression level of galectin-9 in tumor tissue and its concentration in the serum. The result explained that the galectin-9 serum concentration is not suitable to be used as an early diagnosis marker, since there was no significant difference in galectin-9 serum concentration in premalignant and control groups. In addition, serum galectin-9 concentration was not associated with galectin-9 expression in the tissue obtained from cervical cancer patients. However, a recent study by Beyer et al, concluded that the presence of galectin-9 could be a prognosis marker for cervical cancer.5 Contradicting this, a previous study reported that the expression of galectin-9 in the tumor cell represented a beneficial response toward the given therapies,3 which slightly delivered a similar message to this particular study by Reyes-Vallejo et al.4
Hopefully, there will be a clear finding regarding the expression or the concentration of galectin-9 together with other galectin family proteins which may play significant roles in cancer development and prognosis. Therefore, a question worth asking is if there is any correlation to human papillomavirus (HPV) infection affecting the expression of galectin-9 or other galectin family proteins in the cells?6 This could be proposed for further studies in this field.
Acknowledgments
Full appreciation and acknowledgments should be provided to the authors for the study and to all support given during the study and article preparation.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this communication.
References
1. Wang L, Zhao Y, Wang Y, Wu X. The role of galectins in cervical cancer biology and progression. Biomed Res Int. 2018;2018(3). doi:10.1155/2018/2175927
2. Hisrich BV, Young RB, Sansone AM, et al. Role of human galectins in inflammation and cancers associated with endometriosis. Biomolecules. 2020:1–12. doi:10.3390/biom10020230
3. Punt S, Thijssen VL, Vrolijk. J, Kroon CD, Gorter A. Galectin-1, −3 and −9 expression and clinical significance in squamous cervical cancer. PLoS One. 2015:1–13. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0129119
4. Reyes-Vallejo T, Conde-rodríguez I, Serna-villalobos J, et al. Serum levels of Galectin-9 are increased in cervical cancer patients and are higher in advanced clinical stages. Onco Targets Ther. 2022;15:1211–1220. doi:10.2147/OTT.S378933
5. Beyer S, Wehrmann M, Meister S, et al. Galectin-8 and −9 as prognostic factors for cervical cancer. Arch Gynecol Obstet. 2022;306(4):1211–1220. doi:10.1007/s00404-022-06449-9
6. Zhifang C, Dong D, Zhu Y, Pang N, Ding J. The role of Tim-3/Galectin-9 pathway in T-cell function and prognosis of patients with human papilloma virus-associated cervical carcinoma. FASEB J. 2021;35(3). doi:10.1096/fj.202000528RR
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