Galectin-3 expression is a potent prognostic marker in colorectal cancer

Background: Galectin-3 is a β-galactoside-binding protein whose expression has been correlated with progression and metastasis in colon cancer. It is expressed at elevated levels in a variety of neoplastic cells. The current study was designed to investigate, by clinicopathological analysis, the relationship between prognosis and galectin-3 expression, in colorectal cancer. Patients and Methods: Galectin-3 expression was evaluated using immunohistochemical staining in 121 consecutive patients with colorectal cancer. The relationship between galectin-3 expression and clinicopathological factors was analyzed. Results: Galectin-3-positive expression was detected in 79 patients (65%). The incidence of lymph node and distant metastasis in galectin 3-positive cancer was significantly higher than that in galectin-3-negative cases (p=0.0007 and p=0.014, respectively). Furthermore, cancers with galectin-3-positive expression revealed frequent venous invasion (p=0.005) and lymphatic permeation (p=0.041), larger size (p=0.016) and deeper invasion to wall(p=0.01) than in galectin-3-negative cases. While univariate analysis showed that survival in patients with galectin-3-positive expression was significantly poorer than in galectin-3-negative cases (p=0.0027), galectin-3 expression was a prognostic factor independent of Dukes' stage and lymph node metastasis by multivariate analysis. Conclusion: We propose that galectin-3 expression is an independent factor for prognosis in colorectal cancer.