YKL-40 protein expression in human tumor samples and human tumor cell line xenografts: implications for its use in tumor models

BACKGROUND: YKL-40, also known as non-enzymatic chitinase-3 like-protein-1 (CHI3L1), is a glycoprotein expressed and secreted mainly by inflammatory cells and tumor cells. Accordingly, several studies demonstrated elevated YKL-40 serum levels in cancer patients and found YKL-40 to be correlated with a poor prognosis and disease severity in some tumor entities. YKL-40 was suggested to be involved in angiogenesis and extracellular matrix remodeling. As yet, however, its precise biological function remains elusive. METHODS: As YKL-40 protein expression has only been investigated in few malignancies, we employed immunohistochemical detection in a large multi-tumor tissue microarray consisting of 2,310 samples from 72 different tumor entities. In addition, YKL-40 protein expression was determined in primary mouse xenograft tumors derived from human cancer cell lines. RESULTS: YKL-40 could be detected in almost all cancer entities and was differently expressed depending on tumor stage and subtype (e.g., thyroid cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer and ovarian cancer). While YKL-40 was absent in in vitro grown human cancer cell lines, YKL-40 expression was upregulated in xenograft tumor tissues in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: These data provide new insights into YKL-40 expression at the protein level in various tumor entities and its regulation in tumor models. Our data suggest that upregulation of YKL-40 expression is a common feature in vivo and is finely regulated by tumor cell-microenvironment interactions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13402-021-00630-z.