title: GAL3 protein expression is related to clinical features of prolactin-secreting pituitary microadenoma and predicts its recurrence after surgical treatment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous in vitro study showed that Galectin-3 (Gal-3) protein plays an important role in pituitary tumorigenesis, however, the association of Gal-3 expression with the clinical feature and prognosis of pituitary tumor in a clinical setting remains unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 220 patients with prolactin-secreting pituitary adenomas (PA) who previously had transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. The Gal-3 expression was detected in the patients' PA samples using immunohistochemistry and those patients were followed up. A prolactin-secreting PA cell line, the MMQ cell line, was used to study the in vitro effect of Gal-3 on proliferation, migration and invasion of PA cells using small interfering RNA (siRNA) transfecton technique. The in vivo tumorgenesis in nude mice was also studied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that Gal-3 expression was not related to age and sex, but positively associated with tumor invasion (P<0.001), tumor sizes (P<0.001) and pre-operative prolactin levels (P<0.001). The multivariate Cox analysis showed that the Gal-3 expression was closely associated with the recurrence of PA after the surgical treatment (HR =3.15, P=0.002). The in vitro studies showed that Gal-3 knock-down by the siRNA technique significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion ability of the MMQ cells, whereas Gal-3 siRNA transfection induced apoptosis of the MMQ cells. The in vivo tumorgenesis assay showed that Gal-3 siRNA transfection significantly inhibited the tumor volume in vivo compared to transfection of the control siRNA (P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gal-3 regulates proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion of the MMQ cells. Gal-3 may be used as a tissue marker to evaluate the clinical feature and prognosis of PA patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Changhai Hospital, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Dongwei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Ya'nan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Longyang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Weijie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: Laixing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yiqun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Zhijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yue
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D063646:Carcinogenesis; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D008875:Middle Aged; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D011388:Prolactin / Q000378:metabolism*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism; D012008:Recurrence; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
chemical_list: D037502:Galectin 3; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D011388:Prolactin