A Study on the Assessment of Galectin-3
Expression in Colorectal Neoplasm and
its Relationship with Tumour Stage, in
Tertiary Care Hospital, Kolkata, India
EC11-EC14
Correspondence
Anadi Roy Chowdhury,
Kailash 502, Godrej Prakriti, 187f/1 BT Road, Sukhchar, West Bengal, India.
E-mail: dr-anadi@hotmail.com
Introduction: Galectin-3 is a β-galactoside-binding lectin found in a considerable number of normal tissues and malignant neoplasms. It was found to be expressed in few thyroid tumours particularly follicular and papillary tumours. Lectins were found to be released in circulation and increased concentration was noted in colorectal cancers especially in metastatic colonic adenocarcinoma. Different types of galectins are expressed in normal colonic and rectal epithelium. Some types do increases in inflammation and cancers of these areas. It was seen that galectin-3 increases in colorectal tumourigenesis and it bears an important role in cancer progression and metastasis. Galectin-3 seems to have an important role in colorectal cancer. Some studies proved that galectin inhibitors could reduce tumour progression and metastasis and it may be a therapeutic target in metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma.
Aim: To evaluate colon cancer specimens received for biopsy, for galectin-3 expression and its relation with tumour stage, lymphovascular space invasion and tumour differentiation.
Materials and Methods: The study was a cross-sectional observational study conducted in the Department of Pathology of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital from November 2018 to November 2019. It was an immunohistochemistry based assay performed to test the expression levels of galectin-3 in cancer tissues of 62 colorectal neoplasms with the help of galectin-3 primary antibody (mouse monoclonal antibody- clone 9C4). Statistical analysis was done using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0.
Results: Out of 62 cases, 60 cases were colorectal adenocarcinoma and 2 cases were adenoma with age group between 40-75 years. Total 46 cases had cancer in caecum and ascending colon and rest were in recto-sigmoid colon. A 36/60 cases (60%) of cancer tissues were positive for galectin-3 expression. Strong association of lymphovascular space invasion (p=0.046) and depth of tumour (p=0.0078) with galectin positivity in colon carcinoma was noted.
Conclusion: Evaluation of galectin-3 expression is helpful in the assessment of tumour staging and prognosis in colorectal cancer patients. It may have a therapeutic implication in the management of colon cancer in future.