[Galectin Expression in Urological Cancer. Diagnostic, Prognostic and Therapeutic Potential]

Overview

Journal Urologe A

Specialty Urology

Date 2010 Mar 19

PMID 20238481

Citations 5

Authors

S Waalkes

A S Merseburger

A Simon

J Serth

M A Kuczyk

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Galectins are a family of 15 proteins. They interact with glycoproteins in both the extracellular and intracellular milieu and regulate various biological cycles including cell growth, cell differentiation, cell adhesion and apoptosis. In biomolecular studies certain patterns of expression showed a correlation with metastasis and apoptosis. Therefore, galectins could be used as potential markers for early tumour recognition, long-term prognosis and a better-founded choice of therapy. Acknowledging these possibilities this review points out the standing of galectins with all currently available data in the development and progression of renal, bladder and prostatic tumours. The expression patterns of galectin-1 and -3 have been researched extensively. For example, several studies could show a decreased expression of galectin-3 in clear renal cell carcinoma, which correlated with a poor clinical prognosis. On the contrary, patients with a bladder tumour showed an elevated serum level of galectin-3. Furthermore, in analysis of prostatic tumour tissue galectin-1 was found to be an independent predictor of a PSA relapse. In addition, pathological patterns of galectin expression could be detected in non-urological malignancies such as breast cancer. Though all findings indicate a future significance of galectins as markers of urological malignancies with clinical relevance, more research will be necessary to particularly assess the evolutional-dependent function of galectins in the process of tumourigenesis.

Citing Articles

Diagnostic and Prognostic Significance of Serum and Tissue Galectin 3 Expression in Patients with Carcinoma of the Bladder.

Gendy H, Madkour B, Abdelaty S, Essawy F, Khattab D, Hammam O Curr Urol. 2015; 7(4):185-90.

PMID: 26195948 PMC: 4483295. DOI: 10.1159/000365673.

Galectin 3 for the diagnosis of bladder cancer.

Gendy H, Madkour B, Abdelaty S, Essawy F, Khattab D, Hammam O Arab J Urol. 2015; 12(2):178-81.

PMID: 26019945 PMC: 4434779. DOI: 10.1016/j.aju.2013.10.004.

Galectin-1 (GAL-1) expression is a useful tool to differentiate between small cell osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma.

Machado I, Lopez Guerrero J, Navarro S, Mayordomo E, Scotlandi K, Picci P Virchows Arch. 2013; 462(6):665-71.

PMID: 23681112 DOI: 10.1007/s00428-013-1423-3.

Galectin-3 expression in prostate cancer and benign prostate tissues: correlation with biochemical recurrence.

Knapp J, Lokeshwar S, Vogel U, Hennenlotter J, Schwentner C, Kramer M World J Urol. 2012; 31(2):351-8.

PMID: 22892876 DOI: 10.1007/s00345-012-0925-y.

Changes in the expression and subcellular distribution of galectin-3 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Straube T, Elli A, Greb C, Hegele A, Elsasser H, Delacour D J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2011; 30:89.

PMID: 21958686 PMC: 3220637. DOI: 10.1186/1756-9966-30-89.

References

Merseburger A, Kramer M, Hennenlotter J, Simon P, Knapp J, Hartmann J . Involvement of decreased Galectin-3 expression in the pathogenesis and progression of prostate cancer. Prostate. 2007; 68(1):72-7. DOI: 10.1002/pros.20688. View

Idikio H . Galectin-3 expression in human breast carcinoma: correlation with cancer histologic grade. Int J Oncol. 1998; 12(6):1287-90. DOI: 10.3892/ijo.12.6.1287. View

Wells V, Mallucci L . Identification of an autocrine negative growth factor: mouse beta-galactoside-binding protein is a cytostatic factor and cell growth regulator. Cell. 1991; 64(1):91-7. DOI: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90211-g. View

Castronovo V, van den Brule F, Jackers P, Clausse N, Liu F, Gillet C . Decreased expression of galectin-3 is associated with progression of human breast cancer. J Pathol. 1996; 179(1):43-8. DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-9896(199605)179:1<43::AID-PATH541>3.0.CO;2-N. View

Poulakis V, Witzsch U, de Vries R, Altmannsberger H, Manyak M, Becht E . A comparison of urinary nuclear matrix protein-22 and bladder tumour antigen tests with voided urinary cytology in detecting and following bladder cancer: the prognostic value of false-positive results. BJU Int. 2002; 88(7):692-701. DOI: 10.1046/j.1464-410x.2001.02355.x. View

Raz A, Lotan R . Endogenous galactoside-binding lectins: a new class of functional tumor cell surface molecules related to metastasis. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 1987; 6(3):433-52. DOI: 10.1007/BF00144274. View

Yoshii T, Fukumori T, Honjo Y, Inohara H, Kim H, Raz A . Galectin-3 phosphorylation is required for its anti-apoptotic function and cell cycle arrest. J Biol Chem. 2001; 277(9):6852-7. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M107668200. View

Oka N, Takenaka Y, Raz A . Galectins and urological cancer. J Cell Biochem. 2003; 91(1):118-24. DOI: 10.1002/jcb.10663. View

Adams L, Scott G, Weinberg C . Biphasic modulation of cell growth by recombinant human galectin-1. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1996; 1312(2):137-44. DOI: 10.1016/0167-4889(96)00031-6. View

10.

Leffler H, Carlsson S, Hedlund M, Qian Y, Poirier F . Introduction to galectins. Glycoconj J. 2004; 19(7-9):433-40. DOI: 10.1023/B:GLYC.0000014072.34840.04. View

11.

van den Brule F, Waltregny D, Liu F, Castronovo V . Alteration of the cytoplasmic/nuclear expression pattern of galectin-3 correlates with prostate carcinoma progression. Int J Cancer. 2000; 89(4):361-7. DOI: 10.1002/1097-0215(20000720)89:4<361::aid-ijc8>3.0.co;2-u. View

12.

Ellerhorst J, Stephens L, Nguyen T, Xu X . Effects of galectin-3 expression on growth and tumorigenicity of the prostate cancer cell line LNCaP. Prostate. 2002; 50(1):64-70. DOI: 10.1002/pros.10033. View

13.

Leffler H . Galectins structure and function--a synopsis. Results Probl Cell Differ. 2001; 33:57-83. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-46410-5_4. View

14.

Sakaki M, Oka N, Nakanishi R, Yamaguchi K, Fukumori T, Kanayama H . Serum level of galectin-3 in human bladder cancer. J Med Invest. 2008; 55(1-2):127-32. DOI: 10.2152/jmi.55.127. View

15.

Nangia-Makker P, Honjo Y, Sarvis R, Akahani S, Hogan V, Pienta K . Galectin-3 induces endothelial cell morphogenesis and angiogenesis. Am J Pathol. 2000; 156(3):899-909. PMC: 1876842. DOI: 10.1016/S0002-9440(10)64959-0. View

16.

Califice S, Castronovo V, Bracke M, van den Brule F . Dual activities of galectin-3 in human prostate cancer: tumor suppression of nuclear galectin-3 vs tumor promotion of cytoplasmic galectin-3. Oncogene. 2004; 23(45):7527-36. DOI: 10.1038/sj.onc.1207997. View

17.

Cooper D, Boulianne R, Charlton S, Farrell E, Sucher A, Lu B . Fungal galectins, sequence and specificity of two isolectins from Coprinus cinereus. J Biol Chem. 1997; 272(3):1514-21. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.272.3.1514. View

18.

Poirier F, Timmons P, Chan C, Guenet J, Rigby P . Expression of the L14 lectin during mouse embryogenesis suggests multiple roles during pre- and post-implantation development. Development. 1992; 115(1):143-55. DOI: 10.1242/dev.115.1.143. View

19.

van den Brule F, Buicu C, Berchuck A, Bast R, Deprez M, Liu F . Expression of the 67-kD laminin receptor, galectin-1, and galectin-3 in advanced human uterine adenocarcinoma. Hum Pathol. 1996; 27(11):1185-91. DOI: 10.1016/s0046-8177(96)90313-5. View

20.

Dunphy J, Barcham G, Bischof R, Young A, Nash A, Meeusen E . Isolation and characterization of a novel eosinophil-specific galectin released into the lungs in response to allergen challenge. J Biol Chem. 2002; 277(17):14916-24. DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M200214200. View