title: Expression and functions of galectin-7 in ovarian cancer.
abstract: There is a critical need to develop effective new strategies for diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer. In the present work, we investigated the expression of galectin-7 (gal-7) in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) cells and studied its functional relevance. Immunohistochemical analysis of gal-7 expression in tissue microarrays showed that while gal-7 was not detected in normal ovarian tissues, positive cytoplasmic staining of gal-7 was detected in epithelial cells in all EOC histological subtypes but was more frequent in high grade tumors and metastatic samples. Gal-7 expression correlated with a significant difference in the overall survival of patients with ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma. Furthermore, using human EOC cell lines, we found that gal-7 expression was induced by mutant p53. Mechanistically, Matrigel invasion assays and live cell imaging showed that gal-7 increased the invasive behavior of ovarian cancer cells by inducing MMP-9 and increasing cell motility. EOC cells can also secrete gal-7. Recombinant human gal-7 kills Jurkat T cells and human peripheral T cells, suggesting that gal-7 also has immunosuppressive properties. Taken together, our study validates the clinical significance of gal-7 overexpression in ovarian cancer and provides a rationale for targeting gal-7 to improve the outcome of patients with this disease.
authors.affiliation: INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Marilyne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Labrie
authors.affiliation: INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Maria Claudia
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Vladoiu
authors.affiliation: INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Andrée-Anne
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Grosset
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gaboury
authors.affiliation: INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier, Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: St-Pierre
mesh_terms: D015153:Blotting, Western; D000077216:Carcinoma, Ovarian Epithelial; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D018284:Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D037161:Galectins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D046888:Tissue Array Analysis; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D037161:Galectins; C092525:LGALS7 protein, human