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The expressions and clinical significances of tissue and serum galectin-3 in pancreatic carcinoma

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Abstract

Purpose

Galectin-3, a member of the beta-galactoside-binding protein family, is involved in many biological processes, including cell proliferation, regulating cell cycle, angiogenesis, tumorigenesis, metastasis, etc. The aim of this study is to elucidate the relationship between galectin-3 and clinicopathological variables and to evaluate the clinical significance of serum galectin-3 in the diagnosis of pancreas carcinoma.

Methods

Galectin-3 expression in 78 pairs of pancreatic carcinoma tissues and the adjacent nontumorous tissues was tested by immunohistochemistry. The relationship between galectin-3 expression and clinical variables was analyzed. A sensitive method of time-resolved fluorescence immunological assay (TRFIA) for the detection of galectin-3 was established, and serum galectin-3 in cases with different pancreatic diseases was measured by TRFIA and ELISA. Further we compared the sensitivity and specificity of determining galectin-3, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen199 (CA199) for diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma and assessed the complementary diagnostic value of galectin-3, CEA and CA199 for pancreatic carcinoma.

Results

Immunohistochemistry showed that galectin-3 expression was significantly higher in the human pancreatic carcinoma tissues than in the adjacent nontumorous tissues. The expression levels were correlated with the differentiation degree with the higher expression in poor differentiation tissues. Serum galectin-3 detected by both TRFIA and ELISA was much higher in patients with pancreatic carcinoma than in other groups. Serum galectin-3 was not correlated with CEA and CA199. Combined determination of these three markers has the complementary diagnostic value for human pancreatic carcinoma and may increase the diagnostic sensitivity to 97.5%.

Conclusions

Galectin-3 is overexpressed in pancreatic carcinoma tissues, and it is correlated with the tumor differentiation. Serum galectin-3 is higher in cases with pancreatic carcinoma than in benign pancreatic diseases and healthy persons. Combined determination of serum galectin-3, CEA and CA199 may improve the diagnostic power for pancreatic carcinoma.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Foundation for Talents in Six Fields of Jiangsu Province (No. 2006073), the Health Project of Jiangsu Province (H200923), and the Social Development Foundation of Nantong City (S2007028 and S2010012).

Conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Ling Xie, Wen-Kai Ni, Ming-Bing Xiao, Bu-You Chen, Cui-Hua Lu, Xiao-Yan Li, Feng Jiang & Run-Zhou Ni

  2. Department of Pathology, Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Xu-Dong Chen & Song He

  3. Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai, 200025, People’s Republic of China

    Ling Xie

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  1. Ling Xie
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  2. Wen-Kai Ni
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Correspondence to Run-Zhou Ni.

Additional information

Ling Xie and Wen-Kai Ni contributed equally to this work.

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Xie, L., Ni, WK., Chen, XD. et al. The expressions and clinical significances of tissue and serum galectin-3 in pancreatic carcinoma. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 138, 1035–1043 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-012-1178-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-012-1178-2

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