title: Galectin-3 coats the membrane of breast cells and makes a signature of tumours.
abstract: Galectin-3, β-galactoside-binding lectin, coats the membrane of most cancer cells and is involved in metastasis and endothelium recognition as well as in evading immune surveillance through killing of activated T cells. To flag galectin as a biomarker of tumours and metastasis, it is pivotal to understand the role of this protein in different tumours and at different stages. Breast tumours have an anomalous behaviour of the galectin-3 compared to other tumour cells. Herein, FACS sorting and galactoside based assays were used to investigate the role of galectin-3 in metastasis and metastatisation of breast cancer cells. Breast galectin fingerprint at the FACS displayed a higher amount in healthy cells, compared to metastatic cells. The microfluidic assay was able to isolate tumour and metastatic cells more than healthy breast cells. Investigation was performed on samples from patients with breast tumours at stage I and stage III whilst MCF7 and EPH-4 cells were used to perform preliminary investigations. The readout of the conditioned medium (from culturing of stage I cells) fingerprint by FACS evidenced high expression of free galectin. Analysis of the results established that the galectin coating the membrane, by galactoside recognition of the breast cells, and engaged by the cells to form protein-carbohydrate complexes inside the microfluidic assay, resembled the tumour signature of tumours in breast cells whilst the galectin free is independent of those mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: KIST Europe, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Campus E7 1, 66123 Saarbruecken, Germany. manz@kist-europe.de giuseppina.simone@unina.it.
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Simone
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malara
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Trunzo
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Renne
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perozziello
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Fabrizio
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism*; D001940:Breast; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002460:Cell Line; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005697:Galactosides / Q000378:metabolism*; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D061986:MCF-7 Cells; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010641:Phenotype; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D005697:Galactosides; D037502:Galectin 3; C007816:beta-galactoside