PROTEOMIC ANALYSIS IDENTIFIES GALECTIN-1 AS A PREDICTIVE BIOMARKER FOR RELAPSED/REFRACTORY DISEASE IN CLASSICAL HODGKIN LYMPHOMA

KAMPER, PETER; LUGVIGSEN MAJA; BENDIX KNUD; HAMILTON-DUTOIT STEPHEN; BOEN MOLLER MICHAEL; RABINOVICH GABRIEL; NYENGAARD JENS; HONORE BENT; D'AMORE FRANCESO

BLOOD, THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEMATOLOGY - PRINT

AMER SOC HEMATOLOGY

Lugar: Chicago; Año: 2011 vol. 117 p. 6638 - 6649

0006-4971

A considerable effort has been made in order to identify new  prognostic biomarkers in classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). The aim of our study was to search for possible prognostic parameters in advanced stage cHL using a proteomic based strategy. A total of 14 cHL pretreatment tissue samples from younger, advanced stage patients were included. Patients were grouped according to treatment response and differentially expressed proteins between the groups were analyzed using 2-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and identified by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry.  Selected proteins were validated using Western blot analysis. One of the differentially expressed proteins, the carbohydrate-binding protein galectin-1 (Gal-1) was further analyzed using immunohistochemistry and its expression was correlated with clinico-pathological and outcome parameters in 143 advanced stage cHL cases. At the univariate level, high Gal-1 expression in the tumor microenvironment correlated with poor event-free survival (p=0.02). Among younger (¡Ü 61 yrs) patients, a high Gal-1 correlated with poorer overall and event-free survival (both p= 0.007). In this patient group and at the multivariate level, high Gal-1 expression retained a significant predictive impact on event-free survival. Thus, in addition to its functional role in cHL-induced immunosuppression, Gal-1 is also associated with an adverse clinical outcome in this disease.