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Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Ex Vivo Culture of Circulating Tumor Cells in the Cerebral Spinal Fluid from Melanoma Patients to Study Melanoma-Associated Leptomeningeal Disease
Published on: March 29, 2024
High serum galectin-3 in advanced melanoma: preliminary results
P Vereecken1, K Zouaoui Boudjeltia, C Debray
1Department of Dermatology, Erasme Hospital, Brussels, Belgium. vereecken.pierre@belgacom.net
Background:
Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a member of the family of beta-galactoside-binding mammalian lectins, and has been implicated in tumour invasion and metastatic process in vitro and in vivo.
Aim:
To determine whether an increase in serum Gal-3 production could be found in patients with advanced metastatic melanoma.
Methods:
We collected 18 sera from patients with AJCC stage IV metastatic melanomas and 20 sera from healthy volunteers. Determination of Gal-3 was performed by ELISA, and in the group of patients with melanoma, these results were compared with the serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and the C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations.
Results:
Gal-3 concentration was shown to be significantly higher in the group of patients with melanoma compared with healthy volunteers, and Gal-3 concentration was significantly correlated with both LDH and CRP in the melanoma group. We also selected four patients in the melanoma group for Gal-3 retrospective immunostaining analysis on cutaneous metastases. Two of these patients, who had a higher Gal-3 serum level, showed more intense staining and the other two patients, with a lower serum level of Gal-3, had moderate immunostaining, suggesting that at least part of serum Gal-3 might be produced by metastatic melanoma tissue.
Conclusions:
Gal-3 might play a role in melanoma progression and/or inflammation, and warrants further study.
