Abstract
Galectins are a family of proteins with affinity for β-galactosides and their expression
correlates with overall survival (OS) in several cancers. However, in breast cancer
their prognostic potential is unclear. In this study we performed a meta-analysis
to clarify the prognostic value of galectin expression in breast cancer and to identify
sources of heterogeneity. For this purpose, we performed a search of related publications
in PubMed, Central-Conchrane, Web of Science database, OVID-EMBASE, Scope and EBSCOhost
until November 2021.Thirteen articles were included with a total of 2700 patients.
High galectin expression was found not to correlate with OS in breast cancer (HR =
1.11, 95% CI 0.93–1.31). In the case of galectin-3, correlation with OS was observed
when performing subgroup analysis by cellular localization (HR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.36–0.94
for cytoplasmic and HR = 1.82, 95% CI 1.00–3.29 for cytoplasmic plus nuclear). Galectin-7
correlates with DFS/PFS/DSS (HR = 2.43; 95% CI 1.36–4.31). Finally, galectin-3 correlates
with some clinicopathological features such as lymph node metastasis, estrogen receptor
expression and age. In conclusion, galectin-3 correlates with OS in breast cancer
when cellular localization is considered while galectin-7 correlates with DFS/PFS/DSS.
The cellular localization of galectins should be as fundamental aspect to be determined
in future studies.
Keywords
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Article Info
Publication History
Published online: December 29, 2021
Accepted:
December 25,
2021
Received in revised form:
November 16,
2021
Received:
July 26,
2021
Identification
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© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
