title: Galectin-3 may serve as a potential marker for diagnosis and prognosis in papillary thyroid carcinoma: a meta-analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Galectin-3 is a member of the beta-galactoside-binding protein family and functions as a modulator of cell growth through galactoside-binding protein correlated with the occurrence and metastasis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).
  
  
  METHODS
  A systematic review of published articles on Web of Science and PubMed was performed. After establishing inclusion and exclusion criteria, nine articles were selected. Three studies referred to galectin-3 expression in PTC and non-PTC patients. Three studies referred to galectin-3 expression in PTC patients with lymph node metastasis (LNM) and without LNM. Three studies referred to galectin-3 expression in both PTC (with and without LNM) and non-PTC patients. Data analysis was performed by using RevMan5.2 software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 424 patients from six eligible studies that provided data about galectin-3 expression in PTC and non-PTC patients were included. A total of 378 patients from six eligible studies that provided data about galectin-3 expression in PTC with LNM and without LNM were included. Immunohistochemistry technique was used in all the studies. Galectin-3 was found to be a highly sensitive (275/424, 64.86%) marker in the diagnosis of PTC, but was found to be expressed only in a few cases involving other types of thyroid lesions (58/424, 13.68%). The odds ratio, expressed as PTC group versus other thyroid lesions group, was 13.97 (95% CI: 7.51-26.01, P<0.00001). The results also showed that the positive expression rates of galectin-3 in PTC patients with LNM were higher than those in PTC patients without LNM.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis demonstrated that galectin-3 may become a potentially useful immunomarker to distinguish between PTC and non-PTC patients. In addition, PTC patients with positive expression of galectin-3 were more prone to LNM.
authors: Department of General Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
authors: Weiwei
authors: W
authors: Tang
authors: Department of Endocrinology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
authors: Congwei
authors: C
authors: Huang
authors: Department of General Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
authors: Chongyin
authors: C
authors: Tang
authors: Department of General Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
authors: Jin
authors: J
authors: Xu
authors: Department of General Surgery, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
authors: Hanjin
authors: H
authors: Wang
keywords: immunohistochemistry; immunomarker; metastasis; thyroid lesions