Table I.

Patient characteristics, and their association with TIM-3 or galectin-9 expression.

		TIM-3, n				Galectin-9, n
Clinical features	Patients, n (%)	HEG	LEG	χ2	P-value	HEG	LEG	χ2	P-value
Total	45	10	35			7	38
Sex				0.495	0.482			0.000	0.984
Female	13 (28.89)	2	11			2	11
Male	32 (71.11)	8	24			5	27
Age, years				0.319	0.572			2.899	0.089
<60	26 (57.78)	5	21			2	24
≥60	19 (42.22)	5	14			5	14
Tumor size, cm				3.401	0.065			2.445	0.118
<4	20 (44.44)	7	13			5	15
≥4	25 (55.56)	3	22			2	23
Lymph node metastasis				0.294	0.588			0.534	0.465
Yes	14 (31.11)	4	10			3	11
No	31 (68.89)	6	25			4	27
Depth of invasion				1.086	0.297			0.846	0.358
TI+T2	20 (44.44)	3	17			2	18
T3	25 (55.56)	7	18			5	20
TNM stage				1.684	0.194			1.522	0.217
II	34 (75.56)	6	28			4	30
III	11 (24.44)	4	7			3	8
Tumor location
Upper thoracic	11 (24.44)	0	11	4.211	0.122	0	11	2.749	0.112
Middle thoracic	30 (66.67)	9	21			6	24
Lower thoracic	4 (8.89)	1	3			1	3
Pathological type				0.817	0.366			1.322	0.250
Ulcerated	28 (62.22)	5	23			3	25
Non-ulcerated	17 (37.78)	5	12			4	13
Differentiation
Poor	14 (31.11)	3	11	0.030	0.985	1	13	1.097	0.578
Middle	26 (57.78)	6	20			5	21
Well	5 (11.11)	1	4			1	4
Smoking history				1.435	0.231			0.048	0.826
No	21 (46.67)	3	18			3	18
Yes	24 (53.33)	7	17			4	20
Family history				1.029	0.310			0.085	0.771
No	40 (88.89)	8	32			6	34
Yes	5 (11.11)	2	3			1	4

TIM-3, T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin-domain containing-3; HEG, high-expression group; LEG, low-expression group.