Open Access

Clinical significance of circulating galectins as colorectal cancer markers

  • Authors:
    • Makoto Watanabe
    • Ichiro Takemasa
    • Naoki Kaneko
    • Yuhki Yokoyama
    • Ei-Ichi Matsuo
    • Susumu Iwasa
    • Masaki Mori
    • Nariaki Matsuura
    • Morito Monden
    • Osamu Nishimura
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: March 1, 2011     https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2011.1198
  • Pages: 1217-1226
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Abstract

The utility of CEA and CA19-9 as colorectal carcinoma (CRC) markers is limited and development of additional reliable markers is under investigation. We previously showed that galectin-1 is overexpressed in CRC tissues. If such a protein leaks into the peripheral circulation, it might constitute a tumor marker candidate. Here, we test the hypothesis that the levels of circulating galectins could reflect the presence of CRC and/or its progression state. We constructed sandwich ELISAs for galectin-1/-2/-3/-4/-7 and determined their plasma concentrations in 105 CRC patients and 100 healthy volunteers (control). Matched pair samples of 56 patients pre- and post-surgery were also subjected to ELISA analysis. Circulating levels of galectin-1/-3/-4 in CRC patients were significantly higher compared to those in controls. Galectin-1 and galectin-4 levels significantly decreased after surgery (P<0.01), and the level of galectin-4 in most patients fell below the cut-off value. The levels of circulating galectin-4 significantly increased as the tumor stage progressed (P<0.001), whereas those for galectin-1 were relatively high from an early stage. Combined use of galectin-4 with CEA and/or CA19-9 markedly increased the proportion of CRC patients who were positive for tumor markers (from 33.3 to 59.0% for CEA and from 17.1 to 51.4% for CA19-9). Our data show that galectin-4 may be a tumor marker for use in patient follow-up, while galectin-1 could be used for tumor screening. In particular, galectin-4 can be useful as a complementary marker when combined with CEA/CA19-9 to improve CRC follow-up.

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May 2011
Volume 25 Issue 5

Print ISSN: 1021-335X
Online ISSN:1791-2431

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Spandidos Publications style
Watanabe M, Takemasa I, Kaneko N, Yokoyama Y, Matsuo E, Iwasa S, Mori M, Matsuura N, Monden M, Nishimura O, Nishimura O, et al: Clinical significance of circulating galectins as colorectal cancer markers. Oncol Rep 25: 1217-1226, 2011.
APA
Watanabe, M., Takemasa, I., Kaneko, N., Yokoyama, Y., Matsuo, E., Iwasa, S. ... Nishimura, O. (2011). Clinical significance of circulating galectins as colorectal cancer markers. Oncology Reports, 25, 1217-1226. https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2011.1198
MLA
Watanabe, M., Takemasa, I., Kaneko, N., Yokoyama, Y., Matsuo, E., Iwasa, S., Mori, M., Matsuura, N., Monden, M., Nishimura, O."Clinical significance of circulating galectins as colorectal cancer markers". Oncology Reports 25.5 (2011): 1217-1226.
Chicago
Watanabe, M., Takemasa, I., Kaneko, N., Yokoyama, Y., Matsuo, E., Iwasa, S., Mori, M., Matsuura, N., Monden, M., Nishimura, O."Clinical significance of circulating galectins as colorectal cancer markers". Oncology Reports 25, no. 5 (2011): 1217-1226. https://doi.org/10.3892/or.2011.1198