Evaluation of Galectin3 levels in psoriatic patients treated by narrow-band UVB phototherapy.

Background: Psoriasis-specific proteins dysregulated in keratinocytes and involved in the pathophysiological process of psoriasis remains elusive.Objective: This study aimed to investigate the serum and tissue levels of Galectin3 in patients with psoriasis vulgaris before and after narrow-band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) phototherapy.Methods: This study was designed as a cross-sectional case-control. This study included 30 patients with psoriasis Vulgaris and 20 healthy individuals. Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) score were used to evaluate the patients with psoriasis Vulgaris before and after treatment. All patients were treated two times per week for 3 months with NB-UVB phototherapy. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to assess serum levels of galectin 3 of the healthy control subjects and psoriatic patients before and after treatment by NB-UVB phototherapy.Results: The serum level of galectin 3 was significantly lower in patients with psoriasis Vulgaris versus healthy control subjects (p value < .001). There was a significant increase in the serum levels of Galectin 3 and decrease in PASI scores after 3 months of treatment with NB-UVB phototherapy in patients with psoriasis Vulgaris (p value < .001).Conclusions: This study concluded that NB-UVB phototherapy for 3 months in patients with psoriasis Vulgaris was an essential method for decreasing PASI scores and an increase in the serum levels of galectin 3.

Neuroanatomical distribution of galectin-3 in the adult rat brain.

Galectin-3 is a member of the lectin subfamily that enables the specific binding of ß-galactosides. It is expressed in a broad spectrum of species and organs, and is known to have various functions related to cell adhesion, signal transduction, and proinflammatory responses. Although, expression of galectin-3 in some activated neuroglia under neuroinflammation has been well documented in the central nervous system, little is known about the neuronal expression and distribution of galectin-3 in normal brain. To describe the cellular and neuroanatomical expression map of galectin-3, we performed galectin-3 immunohistochemistry on the entire normal rat brain and subsequently analyzed the neuronal distribution. Galectin-3 expression was observed not only in some neuroglia but also in neurons. Neuronal expression of galectin-3 was observed in many functional parts of the cerebral cortex and various other subcortical nuclei in the hypothalamus and brainstem. Neuroanatomical analysis revealed that robust galectin-3 immuno-signals were present in many hypothalamic nuclei related to a variety of physiological functions responsible for mediating anxiety responses, energy balance, and neuroendocrine regulation. In addition, the regions highly connected with these hypothalamic nuclei also showed intense galectin-3 expression. Moreover, multiple key regions involved in regulating autonomic functions exhibited high levels of galectin-3 expression. In contrast, the subcortical nuclei responsible for the control of voluntary motor functions and limbic system exhibited no galectin-3 immunoreactivity. These observations suggest that galectin-3 expression in the rat brain seems to be regulated by developmental cascades, and that functionally and neuroanatomically related brain nuclei constitutively express galectin-3 in adulthood.

Galectin-3-expression analysis in the surgical selection of follicular thyroid nodules with indeterminate fine-needle aspiration cytology: a prospective multicentre study.

BACKGROUND: In the USA, about 30 200 well-differentiated thyroid carcinomas were diagnosed in 2007, but the prevalence of thyroid nodules is much higher (about 5% of the adult population). Unfortunately, the preoperative characterisation of follicular thyroid nodules is still a challenge, and many benign lesions, which remain indeterminate after fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology are referred to surgery. About 85% of these thyroid nodules are classified as benign at final histology. We aimed to assess the diagnostic effect of galectin-3 expression analysis in distinguishing preoperatively benign from malignant follicular thyroid nodules when FNA findings were indeterminate. METHODS: 544 patients were enrolled between June 1, 2003, and Aug 30, 2006. We used a purified monoclonal antibody to galectin-3, a biotin-free immunocytohistochemical assay, and a morphological and phenotypic analysis of FNA-derived cell-block preparations. Galectin-3-expression analysis was applied preoperatively on 465 follicular thyroid proliferations that were candidates for surgery, and its diagnostic accuracy was compared with the final histology. FINDINGS: 31 patients were excluded because they had small galectin-3-negative thyroid nodules; we did not have data for 47 patients; and one patient with an oncocytic nodule was excluded. 331 (71%) of the assessable 465 preoperative thyroid FNA samples did not express galectin-3. 280 (85%) of these galectin-3-negative lesions were classified as benign at final histology. Galectin-3 expression was detected, instead, in 134 of 465 (29%) thyroid proliferations, 101 (75%) of which were confirmed as malignant. The overall sensitivity of the galectin-3 test was 78% (95% CI 74-82) and specificity was 93% (90-95). Estimated positive predictive value was 82% (79-86) and negative predictive value was 91% (88-93). 381 (88%) of 432 patients with follicular thyroid nodules who were referred for thyroidectomy were correctly classified preoperatively by use of the galectin-3 test. However, 29 (22%) of 130 cancers were missed by the galectin-3 method. INTERPRETATION: Our findings show that if the option of surgery was based theoretically on galectin-3 expression alone, only 134 thyroid operations would have been done in 465 patients; therefore a large proportion (71%) of unnecessary thyroid surgical procedures could be avoided, although a number of galectin-3-negative cancers could be potentially missed. The galectin-3 test proposed here does not replace conventional FNA cytology, but represents a complementary diagnostic method for those follicular nodules that remain indeterminate.