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The expression of Galectin-3 in breast cancer and its association with metastatic disease: a systematic review of the literature

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Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer and the second highest cause of cancer mortality in female patients. The significance of the expression of Galectin-3 has been correlated with various malignancy types and in data from several research papers, the expression of Galectin-3 has been associated with the progression and metastasis of breast cancer. In the present study, the authors’ goal is to identify whether the expression of Galectin-3 in breast cancer can be associated with the presence and/or recurrence of a metastatic disease. Both Scopus and PubMed databases were utilized, by inputting the following combination of keywords: (((Breast) AND Metastasis)) AND ((Galectin 3) OR Galectin-3). The time of publication and text availability were not considered when searching the databases and all relevant articles in English were initially accepted. We included one case-control study, three retrospective case studies and one retrospective cohort study. In two of the included studies, the levels in concentration of Galectin-3 were not correlated with a significant difference in prognosis. In two studies, the lacking in expression of Galectin-3 was associated with a worse prognosis and in one of the studies selected, the elevated levels of Galectin-3 were correlated with recurrence of disease in triple negative breast cancer cases. For most of the studies selected for this review, the results were contradictory in regard to the role of Galectin-3 for prognosis and metastatic potential in female breast cancer patients. It is still unclear, whether Galectin-3 can be used as a prognostic marker for advanced breast cancer disease.

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Author notes

  1. Ioannis Boutas and Anastasios Potiris contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Third Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Attikon University Hospital, Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Ioannis Boutas, Anastasios Potiris, Evangelos Makrakis, Pantelis Messaropoulos, Georgios-Konstantinos Papaioannou & Sophia Ν. Kalantaridou

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  1. Ioannis Boutas
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  2. Anastasios Potiris
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  3. Evangelos Makrakis
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  4. Pantelis Messaropoulos
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  5. Georgios-Konstantinos Papaioannou
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  6. Sophia Ν. Kalantaridou
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Contributions

I. Boutas and A. Potiris contributed equally to this work. IB: Project development, data collection and manuscript writing, AP: Project development, data collection and manuscript writing, EM: Manuscript editing, PM: Data review, GKP: Manuscript editing and SΝK: Project development, data review and manuscript editing.

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Correspondence to Anastasios Potiris.

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Boutas, I., Potiris, A., Makrakis, E. et al. The expression of Galectin-3 in breast cancer and its association with metastatic disease: a systematic review of the literature. Mol Biol Rep 48, 807–815 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-06122-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-020-06122-x

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