title: Galectin-3: a possible complementary marker to the PSA blood test.
abstract: The prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test has served as a blood marker of prostate cancer (PCa), and for monitoring recurrence/metastasis in patients after therapeutic intervention. However, the applicability/reliability of the PSA test was recently questioned as it is not without challenges, in particular in men who have PCa without an elevated PSA (false negative), or in men who are disease-free with elevated levels of PSA (false positive). Galectin-3 is a tumor-associated protein; present in the seminal fluid and is a substrate for the PSA enzyme e.g., a chymotrypsin-like serine protease. We hypothesized that the cleavage status and level of galectin-3 in the prostate tissue and sera are associated with PCa. Thus, we compared galectin-3 levels obtained from sera of non-cancer urology patients to those of metastatic PCa patients. The data were confirmed by analyzing PCa tissue arrays. Here, we report that galectin-3 levels in the sera of patients with metastatic PCa were uniformly higher as compared to the non-cancer patient controls. The data suggest that galectin-3 serum level may be a useful serum complementary marker to the PSA blood test to be used for initial and follow-up PSA complimentary diagnostic/prognostic tool for recurrence in PCa patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology and 2 Biostatistics Core Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Vitaly
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balan
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Pratima
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nangia-Makker
authors.forename: Dhonghyo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kho
authors.forename: Madhuri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bajaj
authors.forename: Daryn
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Lance
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Heilbrun
authors.forename: Avraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raz
authors.forename: Elisabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Heath
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000379:methods*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D047468:Immunoprecipitation; D008297:Male; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen / Q000097:blood*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D037502:Galectin 3; D017430:Prostate-Specific Antigen