title: Galectin-1 overexpression in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: effect on survival.
abstract: CONCLUSIONS
  Galectin-1 overexpression is significantly correlated with the survival rate of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Immunohistochemical analysis of galectin-1 expression might be useful for identifying patients with a high risk of distant metastasis and for prompting timely adjuvant systemic therapy for patients with aggressive NPC.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We examined the effect of galectin-1 on the survival rate of patients with NPC.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 124 patients diagnosed between 1998 and 2002 with NPC without distant metastasis were enrolled in this single-center historical prospective cohort study. Immunohistochemical analysis was used to correlate the galectin-1 expression score in the cytoplasm and the survival rate of patients with NPC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with NPC who overexpressed galectin-1 in cytoplasm showed more aggressive tumor growth and significantly shorter disease-specific survival (DSS) (p = 0.0037) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) (p = 0.0006) than patients with NPC who did not overexpress galectin-1. Multivariate analysis showed that galectin-1 overexpression remained prognostically independent for DSS (p = 0.031, hazard ratio = 1.821), and DMFS (p = 0.005, hazard ratio = 2.417), together with the advanced III-IV stages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and.
authors.forename: Shih-Lun
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chien-Feng
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Charlene
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Yung-Song
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D037483:Galectin 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000473:pathology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D037483:Galectin 1; C445499:LGALS1 protein, human