Expression of the GLUT1 glucose transporter in gallbladder carcinomas

It has previously been shown that glucose uptake and use is more prevalent in carcinomas than in normal cells and tissues. We hypothesized that human erythrocyte glucose transporter-1 expression is increased in gallbladder carcinoma and might be correlated with prognostic significance.

A total of 71 cases of gallbladder carcinomas, 2 cases of gallbladder dysplasia and 20 cases of gallbladder adenomas were examined immunohistochemically to evaluate the expression of glucose transporter-1 protein in the light of their relationship with various prognostic factors.

Glucose transporter-1 was stained in the cell membrane of the cancer cells. Adjacent normal mucosa was negative for glucose transporter-1 staining. Thirty-seven gallbladder carcinomas (52.1%) showed positive staining for glucose transporter-1, however only one of the adenomas (5.0%) and none of the dysplasias were positive (P < 0.05). There was significant correlation between glucose transporter-1 expression and histologic tumor type, and tumor stage. In the multivariate analysis, tumor stage was statistically significant (P = 0.05), but glucose transporter-1 expression was not significant (P = 0.07). The mean survival periods of the glucose transporter-1 positive and negative groups were 24 months and 58 months, respectively (P = 0.003).

Our results suggest that glucose transporter-1 protein expression is strongly associated with neoplastic progression in gallbladder carcinomas, and that glucose transporter-1 expression identifies with a worse prognosis in the patients with gallbladder carcinomas.