Abstract:
Objective To investigate the expression of the novel immune checkpoint SIGLEC9 and SIGLEC9+ T cells in cervical cancer and its clinical correlation.
Methods A total of 132 paraffin-embedded specimens of cervical tissue from patients with cervical cancer who underwent surgical treatment or pathological biopsy at The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from May 2022 to October 2023 were included for study. In addition, 58 paraffin-embedded specimens of normal cervical tissue from patients with benign uterine leiomyomas who underwent total uterine excision during the same period were selected as normal controls. Furthermore, 108 peripheral blood samples from patients with cervical cancer who underwent surgical treatment or pathological biopsy were collected for study, and 86 peripheral blood samples from healthy individuals during the same time period were selected as controls. Bioinformatics technology, immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, flow cytometry, and double immunofluorescence (IF) staining were used to assess the expression of SIGLEC9 and SIGLEC9+ T cells in cervical cancer, followed by correlation analysis with clinical indicators.
Results The bioinformatics, IHC, and double IF staining results showed that SIGLEC9 and SIGLEC9+ T cells were highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues (P<0.05). The flow cytometry results showed that SIGLEC9+ CD4+ T and SIGLEC9+ CD8+ T cells were increased in the peripheral blood of patients with cervical cancer (P<0.05). SIGLEC9 expression correlated with tumor size, FIGO stage, lymph node metastasis, and human papillomavirus (HPV) infection (P<0.05).
Conclusions The novel immune checkpoint SIGLEC9 was highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues, and SIGLEC9+ T cells infiltrated cervical cancer tissues. In vitro cell experiments showed that SIGLEC9 affects T cell function. In summary, SIGLEC9 provides a novel research direction for understanding the immune escape mechanism of cervical cancer and a novel therapeutic target for cervical cancer immunotherapy.