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Localization of galectin-3 in normal and diseased pancreatic tissue
C Schaffert1, P M Pour, W G Chaney
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha 68198-4525, USA.
Conclusion:
Galectin-3 is expressed in both human and hamster pancreatic tumors and tumor cell lines and this expression is increased over normal.
Background:
Galectin-3 is overexpressed in many gastrointestinal tumors. This study examined the expression of galectin-3 in human and hamster pancreatic tumors to determine if galectin-3 could be used as a marker for pancreatic cancer.
Methods:
Membranes were prepared from human and hamster pancreatic tumor cell lines. Galectin-3 was visualized by immunoblot analysis of separated membrane proteins using the monoclonal antibody (MAb) M3/38. Paraffin-embedded sections from normal, pancreatitis, and cancerous human pancreatic tissue and normal, N-nitrosobis(2-oxopropyl)amine (BOP)-treated hyperplastic, and cancerous hamster pancreatic tissues were processed immunohistochemically for galectin-3 using the MAb M3/38.
Results:
Galectin-3 was heavily expressed in cytoplasmic and nuclear regions of 50% of normal human pancreatic tissue. Expression of galectin-3 in ductal cells in chronic pancreatitis and cancerous pancreatic tissue was increased over normal and was more uniform (>95% cells/duct stained). Normal hamster pancreatic ducts showed weak or no expression of galectin-3. Hyperplastic pancreatic ductal cells from BOP-treated hamsters heavily expressed galectin-3 (60-95% cells/duct stained). Galectin-3 expression in ductal cells in cancerous pancreatic lesions was increased to >95%. Galectin-3 was also detected in the pancreatic nerves in all human tissue specimens tested.