title: Cell surface overexpression of galectin-3 and the presence of its ligand 90k in the blood plasma as determinants in colon neoplastic lesions.
abstract: Galectins are a family of beta-galactoside binding molecules involved in cell--extracellular matrix adhesion processes. Specifically, Galectin-3 (Gal-3), one of the members of this family of molecules plays a role in cell adhesion processes as well as in cell survival or apoptosis. Gal-3 was also hypothesized to represent a useful tool in tumor characterization, for example, in thyroid tumors. We report herein the results obtained by evaluating Gal-3 expression of colon cells from human adenomas and adenocarcinomas with two different methodologies: immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry of living dispersed cells. We found that (1) the expression of Gal-3 was significantly increased on the surface of cells from adenomas with respect to normal mucosa from the same patient; (2) Gal-3 ligand, 90k molecule, was increased in the blood plasma from patients with both adenomatous and adenocarcinomatous lesions; and (3) Gal-3 overexpression was not related with the presence of K-ras mutation. Altogether these results clearly indicate that the evaluation of Gal-3 expression (and of its ligand, 90k) can be of interest in the characterization of nonmalignant and malignant colon cancers.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pathology Service, Polo Oncologico Regina Elena, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Greco
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vona
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cosimelli
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Matarrese
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Straface
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scordati
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giannarelli
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Casale
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Assisi
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mottolese
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moles
authors.forename: Walter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Malorni
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D000236:Adenoma / Q000378:metabolism*; D001483:Base Sequence; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D017931:DNA Primers; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D011905:Genes, ras; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008024:Ligands; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D037502:Galectin 3; D008024:Ligands