Galectin 4 is a biomarker for early recurrence and death after surgical resection for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Figures & data

Table 1. Baseline clinical characteristics stratified according to galectin 4 expression.

Factors	All patients	Galectin 4, negative median (iqr) or N (%)	Galectin 4, positive median (iqr) or N (%)	p-Value	Missing
Age, years	69 (63–73)	70 (64–76)	68 (63–73)	.133
Female gender	66 (47.1)	13 (44.8)	53 (47.7)	.779
Tumor size ≥2 cm	118 (84.3)	29 (100)	89 (80.2)	.008
T-stage				.389	0.7%
T1	18 (12.9)	0	18 (16.4)
T2	94 (67.6)	25 (86.2)	69 (62.7)
T3	26 (18.7)	4 (13.8)	22 (20.0)
T4	1 (0.7)	0	1 (0.9)
N-stage				.519	1.4%
N0	34 (24.6)	5 (17.2)	29 (26.6)
N1	52 (37.7)	11 (37.9)	41 (37.6)
N2	52 (37.7)	13 (44.8)	39 (35.8)
AJCC stage				.464	1.4%
IA	6 (4.3)	0	6 (5.5)
IB	20 (14.5)	5 (17.2)	15 (13.8)
IIA	7 (5.1)	0	7 (6.4)
IIB	52 (37.7)	11 (37.9)	41 (37.6)
III	53 (38.4)	13 (44.8)	40 (36.7)
Tumor differentiation				.001	1.4%
Well	7 (2.9)	0	7 (6.4)
Moderate	48 (57.2)	3 (10.3)	45 (41.3)
Poor	79 (34.8)	26 (89.7)	53 (48.6)
Undifferentiated	4 (5.1)	0	4 (3.7)
R1 resection	54 (38.8)	11 (37.9)	43 (39.1)	.909	0.7%
Adjuvant chemotherapy	113 (83.7)	19 (67.9)	94 (87.9)	.019	3.6%

AJCC: American joint committee on cancer, 8th edition; iqr: interquartile range. p-value with statistical significance (<.05) is highlighted in bold.

Figure 1. Representative immunohistochemical images of galectin 4 expression in pancreatic cancer, (A) negative expression, (B) weak expression, (C) moderate expression, (D) strong expression.

Figure 2. Disease-free survival curves by galectin 4 expression in patients with surgically resected pancreatic cancer (log-rank p = .224, Breslow p = .087).

Table 2. Univariable and multivariable Cox survival analyses.

Survival		Unadjusted			Adjusted*
	HR	95% CI	p-Value	HR	95% CI	p-Value
1-year DFS	0.465	0.253–0.855	0.014	0.485	0.256–0.920	.027
3-year DFS	0.714	0.430–1.186	0.193	0.624	0.360–1.081	.093
5-year DFS	0.737	0.450–1.208	0.226	0.638	0.371–1.095	.103
1-year OS	0.475	0.238–0.951	0.036	0.482	0.235–0.989	.047
3-year OS	0.579	0.353–0.951	0.031	0.550	0.327–0.928	.025
5-year OS	0.676	0.416–1.098	0.114	0.636	0.380–1.063	.084

DFS: disease-free survival; OS: overall survival. *Adjusted for age, gender, AJCC stage, and resection margin status. p-value with statistical significance (<.05) is highlighted in bold.

Figure 3. Overall survival curves by galectin 4 expression in patients with surgically resected pancreatic cancer (log-rank p = .118, Breslow p = .021).