Galectin-9-based immune risk score model helps to predict relapse in stage I–III small cell lung cancer

Abstract

Background For small cell lung cancer (SCLC) therapy, immunotherapy might have unique advantages to some extent. Galectin-9 (Gal-9) plays an important role in antitumor immunity, while little is known of its function in SCLC. Materials and methods By mean of immunohistochemistry (IHC), we tested the expression level of Gal-9 and other immune markers on both tumor cells and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in 102 surgical-resected early stage SCLC clinical samples. On the basis of statistical analysis and machine learning results, the Gal-9-based immune risk score model was constructed and its predictive performance was evaluated. Then, we thoroughly explored the effects of Gal-9 and immune risk score on SCLC immune microenvironment and immune infiltration in different cohorts and platforms. Results In the SCLC cohort for IHC, the expression level of Gal-9 on TILs was statistically correlated with the levels of program death-1 (p=0.001), program death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) (pConclusions Gal-9 is markedly related to tumor-immune microenvironment and immune infiltration in SCLC. This study emphasized the predictive value and promising clinical applications of Gal-9 in stage I–III SCLC.