Clinical significance of leukocyte-associated immunoglobulin-like receptor-1 expression in human cervical cancer

Abstract

Leukocyte-associated immunoglobulin-like receptor-1 (LAIR-1) is broadly expressed on the majority of immune cells; however,the biological role of LAIR in solid tumors has yet to be elucidated. In the present study,using immunohistochemical staining analysis,the expression of LAIR-1 in human cervical cancer (HCC) and nontumor-adjacent tissue specimens was determined,and the results indicated that the expression of LAIR-1 in HCC tissue was higher compared with that in noncancerous tissue. The χ2 test was used to analyze the correlation between the expression of LAIR-1 in tumor tissues with clinicopathological parameters. The results showed that the expression of LAIR-1 in the cancer cell nucleus was significantly associated with tumor size,pathological differentiation,T classification and clinical stage. In addition,the expression in the cytoplasm was evidently associated with the number of positive lymph nodes. The HCC cell line,ME-180,which does not express LAIR-1,was stably transfected using LAIR-1 cDNA. Cell Counting Kit-8 and an annexin V assay showed that the overexpression of LAIR-1 in ME-180 cells suppressed the proliferation and anti-apoptosis capacity of the cells. These findings demonstrated that LAIR-1 is markedly overexpressed in HCC tissue,and that its expression status is associated with tumor progression. LAIR-1 may be a biomarker and target in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with HCC.