[Study on association between the expression of galectin- 3 and the peritoneal metastasis in gastric cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between the expression of galectin- 3 protein and peritoneal metastasis in gastric cancer. METHOD: The expressions of galectin- 3 was detected in matching- samples including primary gastric cancer lesions,lymph node metastases,peritoneal metastases and paratumor normal tissues by immunohistochemistry. All specimens were gained from 35 patients who had synchronous peritoneal metastasis from gastric cancer. RESULTS: The over- expression of galectin- 3 was observed in 97% (34/35) of the gastric cancer lesions, the peritoneal metastases and the lymph node metastases,whereas in 14% (5/35) of paratumor normal tissues. There were significant differences in the expression of galectin- 3 between paratumor normal tissues and the gastric carcinoma lesions,peritoneal metastases and lymph node metastases (P< 0.05),but there were no significant differences among the gastric cancer lesions,the peritoneal metastases,and the lymph node metastases (P> 0.05). CONCLUSION: The expression of galectin- 3 in gastric cancer lesions can be used as a biological marker of peritoneal metastasis from gastric cancer before operation and as a prognostic factor of gastric cancer.