Expression and clinical significance of galectin-3 in osteosarcoma

Galectin-3 is a multifunctional β-galactoside-binding protein which has been shown to play a role in carcinogenesis. However, the involvement of galectin-3 in osteosarcoma remains unclear. In this study, we aimed to examine the serum level of galectin-3 in osteosarcoma patients and healthy controls, and the protein expression of galectin-3 in osteosarcoma tissues and their adjacent non-malignant tissues. We further aimed to investigate the clinical significance of galectin-3 serum and protein expression levels. Galectin-3 serum level was evaluated using ELISA in 132 osteosarcoma patients and 184 healthy controls, while the protein expression of galectin-3 was determined using immunohistochemistry in the malignant and the surrounding non-malignant tissues of the same 132 osteosarcoma patients. Our results showed that the mean galectin-3 serum level was significantly higher in patients than in controls (2.35 ± 0.91 ng/ml vs. 0.86 ± 0.20 ng/ml) (p<0.0001). Among patients, a higher galectin-3 serum level was significantly associated with the Enneking stage of cancer (p<0.0001). In addition, we found a significant overrepresentation of high galectin-3 expression in osteosarcoma tissues than in non-malignant tissues (p<0.0001). Galectin-3 expression in osteosarcoma tissues was also found to be correlated with the Enneking stage of cancer (p<0.0001) and the occurrence of metastasis (p<0.0001). In conclusion, galectin-3 could serve as a useful prognostic marker in osteosarcoma.