ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Cancer Cell Biology
Study on the expression of lactate transport-related proteins in follicular lymphoma and their relationship with clinicopathologic features
Zheng XU
Jiuling Li
Xin Zhang
Xueju Wang
Department of Pathology, China-Japan Union Hospital, Jilin University, Changchun, China
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Abstract
Objective: To investigate the expression of the lactate transport-related proteins MCT1, MCT4, and their chaperone CD147 in follicular lymphoma (FL), and to delineate their potential correlations with clinicopathological parameters predictive of prognosis. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was employed to evaluate the expression of MCT1, MCT4, and CD147 in tumor cells. Associations between protein expression and clinicopathological variables relevant to patient outcome were statistically analyzed. Results: 1. MCT1-positive immunoreactivity was significantly associated with elevated serum β2-microglobulin (β2-M, a small circulating protein that rises with disease activity and serves as a marker of tumor load and adverse outcomes in lymphomas) level, male sex, and Ki-67 ≥30%; MCT4-positive immunoreactivity was significantly associated with Ki-67 ≥30%; CD147-positive immunoreactivity correlated significantly with low-grade FL. 2. Four distinct expression patterns of MCT1/MCT4 were identified: double-positive, double-negative, MCT1-positive only, and MCT4-positive only. High-grade FL demonstrated a significant predilection for either double-positive or single-positive expression; Ki-67 <30 % was significantly linked to the double-negative expression; elevated serum β2-M was significantly associated with MCT1-positive only expression; age ≥60 years and female sex were significantly associated with MCT4-positive only expression. Conclusions: The expression of MCT1, MCT4, and CD147 in FL is correlated with adverse clinicopathological features, thereby furnishing additional evidence for refinement of the Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (FLIPI, a five-parameter clinical score predicting outcome in newly diagnosed follicular lymphoma). Targeted inhibition of MCT1 and MCT4 may represent a novel therapeutic strategy. Furthermore, the heterogeneous expression of these three proteins suggests metabolic heterogeneity within FL, offering a mechanistic basis for future investigations.
Summary
Keywords
CD147, Clinicopathologic features, follicular lymphoma, mct1, MCT4
Received
02 September 2025
Accepted
12 January 2026
Copyright
© 2026 XU, Li, Zhang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Xueju Wang
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