title: Comprehensive review of the prognostic value of galectin-3 in heart failure.
abstract: Heart failure (HF) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States; however, reliable biomarkers predicting outcomes of patients suffering from HF are still not available. Finding a prognostic indicator in patients with HF could ultimately help improve the quality of goal-directed care for these patients. A number of recent studies suggest that galectin-3, a peptide that has been repeatedly shown to be elevated in the setting of inflammatory processes, may provide information regarding the pathophysiologic process underlying HF. If this is the case, galectin-3 may independently be able to provide more information regarding prognosis in patients with HF than some of the more conventional indicators currently in use today (ie, natriuretic peptide, C-reactive protein). We analyzed the most recent and comprehensive studies that have looked at the utility of galectin-3 as a prognostic marker in patients with HF. After a thorough review, we found that the evidence against the use of galectin-3 as a prognostic biomarker in HF was too strong to support its routine use in current clinical settings. However, many of the studies, both in support of and in opposition to the prognostic potential of galectin-3, were uniformly limited by undersized cohorts, and thus the need for further exploration is clearly warranted.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Medicine, New York Presbyterian-Cornell Weill Medical Center, New York, NY; and †New York Medical College, Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY.
authors.forename: Elliot
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Coburn
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Frishman
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000097:blood*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000097:blood / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D037502:Galectin 3