title: Adhesion/growth-regulatory tissue lectin galectin-1 in relation to angiogenesis/lymphocyte infiltration and prognostic relevance of stromal up-regulation in laryngeal carcinomas.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Galectin-1 has been found to modulate lymphocyte invasion in inflammation and to be involved in angiogenesis in models, thus prompting examination of its clinical relevance in laryngeal cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Immunohistochemical processing of tissue sections (n=53) from patients with stage I/II (n=35) and stage IV (n=18) laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) with a specific anti-galectin-1 antibody and monitoring of CD45/CD31 positivity was combined with quantitative morphometric analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Lectin presence in the tumor and endothelial cells was positively correlated, while a negative relationship to the number of CD45-positive lymphocytes was demonstrated. No association was seen with the extent of neovascularization. The mean optical density (MOD) of lectin-dependent staining in the tumor stroma was significantly increased compared to normal stroma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Galectin-1 was not associated with angiogenesis in the studied cohort while galectin-1 in endothelial cells may negatively influence lymphocyte invasion and the mean optical density for the stromal galectin-1 signal is up-regulated in tumors.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Mons-Hainaut, Mons, Belgium. sven.saussez@umh.ac.be
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saussez
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Decaestecker
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cludts
authors.forename: Perle
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ernoux
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chevalier
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smetana
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: André
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Leroy
authors.forename: Hans-Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Gabius