Altered galectin-1 serum levels in patients diagnosed with high-grade glioma.

Abstract

High-grade gliomas (HGG) are the most common and most aggressive intrinsic human brain tumors in adults. Galectin-1, a glycan-binding protein that is overexpressed in HGG, has been shown to contribute significantly to the aggressive nature of HGG. It is unknown whether increased galectin-1 expression levels are exclusively found at the tumor site or whether galectin-1 can also be detected in the serum of HGG patients. Galectin-1 serum levels were analyzed in a prospective dataset of 43 healthy controls and 125 patients with newly diagnosed or recurrent HGG. Samples were taken at the moment of surgical resection and/or 2-3 weeks after surgery. Galectin-1 serum levels were determined using an ELISA for galectin-1. Galectin-1 serum levels depended significantly on age and sex in the control group. Age- and sex-adjusted galectin-1 serum levels were significantly higher in all patient subgroups compared to healthy controls with a high discriminative ability that increased with age. We did not observe a significant decrease in the galectin-1 serum levels upon surgical resection of the tumor. Collectively, the data presented here may represent a first step to establish galectin-1 as a biomarker in HGG disease monitoring. Further longitudinal evaluation is required and ongoing to investigate the value of galectin-1 serum levels in HGG patients as an additional diagnostic marker, but more importantly as a predictor of treatment response and prognosis. Furthermore, galectin-1 serum levels could also provide an important tool for the identification of HGG patients that could benefit from galectin-1 directed therapies that are currently under development.

• Authors: Tina Verschuere, Matthias Van Woensel, Steffen Fieuws, Florence Lefranc, Veronique Mathieu, Robert Kiss, Stefaan W Van Gool, Steven De Vleeschouwer
• Journal: Journal of neuro-oncology (J Neurooncol) Vol. 115 Issue 1 Pg. 9-17 (Oct 2013) ISSN: 1573-7373 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 23824536 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Galectin 1

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Aged
• Biomarkers, Tumor (blood)
• Brain (metabolism)
• Brain Neoplasms (blood, diagnosis)
• Case-Control Studies
• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
• Female
• Follow-Up Studies
• Galectin 1 (blood)
• Glioma (blood, diagnosis)
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Neoplasm Grading
• Neoplasm Recurrence, Local (blood, diagnosis)
• Prognosis
• Prospective Studies
• Young Adult