Aberrant expression of N-glycolyl GM3 ganglioside is associated with the aggressive biological behavior of human sarcomas

BACKGROUND: The aberrant expression of N-glycolyl GM3 ganglioside (NeuGcGM3) in patients with sarcomas was reevaluated by assessing the relation of this molecule with some clinicopathological features and overall survival (OS) of patients. METHODS: Fifty formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded specimens from patients diagnosed with sarcomas were included. For the evaluation of NeuGcGM3, the 14F7 monoclonal antibody followed by a peroxidase avidin-biotin system was used. Clinicopathological features were obtained from patient records. Survival rates were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. For multivariate analyses, the Cox regression model was used to identify independent prognostic factors for OS. RESULTS: The majority of samples had high levels of NeuGcGM3 expression (66.0%) that showed statistical correlation with age (p = 0.014), TNM stage (p = 0.022), histological grade (p = 0.013) and proliferation rates (p = 0.012). In addition, a tendency for association with tumor depth (p = 0.070) was evidenced. In univariate survival analysis, TNM stage (p = 0.000), occurrence of metastasis (p = 0.000) and expression of NeuGcGM3 (p = 0.034) were significant prognostic factors for OS, while a tendency for association was evidenced for histological grade (p = 0.091). Among these variables, only the presence of metastasis (p = 0.001) was an independent prognostic factor on multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The present research suggests the evaluation of NeuGcGM3 expression as a complementary prognostic factor in sarcoma, although our results need to be validated in a larger series and prospective studies. Moreover, our results could support the use of this molecule as a target for immunotherapy.