title: Local expression of myocardial galectin-3 does not correlate with its serum levels in patients undergoing heart transplantation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Galectins are a family of soluble lectins expressed in a variety of tissues, which play many important regulatory roles in inflammation, immunity, and cancer. The up-regulation of galectin-3 in hypertrophied hearts and the development of fibrosis have been shown in experimental studies. Increased galectin-3 levels are associated with poor long-term survival in end-stage heart failure (HF). We examined the relationship between plasma galectin-3 levels and the myocardial tissue expression of galectin-3 in patients with end-stage HF.
  
  
  METHODS
  Expression of galectin-3 was assessed by real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry in left ventricle and atrial myocardium of patients (n=12) with end-stage HF undergoing heart transplantation. All patients gave informed consent. Serum expression of galectin-3 was assessed by ELISA in serum from 20 patients with end-stage HF and in 20 healthy volunteers who served as controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Expression of galectin-3 was similar in the myocardium of patients in comparison to the control group, independently of the anatomical area (HF vs. healthy ventricle: 1.73E-02 vs. 1.50 E-02; HF vs. healthy atrium: 1.32E-02 vs. 1.16E-02). However, serum expression of galectin-3 was significantly higher in the end-stage HF patients compared to the healthy controls (13.02±10.6 vs. 3.7±1.3 ng/ml; p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Plasma galectin-3 levels correlate with the ejection fraction and are elevated in patients with HF. However, the myocardial expression of galectin-3 does not correlate with the ventricular ejection fraction. Our data support the use of galectin-3 as a marker of heart insufficiency.
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beiras-Fernandez
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Weis
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rothkopf
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kaczmarek
authors.forename: Carola
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ledderose
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.forename: Till
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Keller
authors.forename: Andres
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beiras
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kreth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D011379:Prognosis; D013318:Stroke Volume
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D037502:Galectin 3