Affiliations: [a] Department of Gastrointestinal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Center of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China | [b] Guangzhou Key Laboratory of ``Translational Medicine on Malignant Tumor Treatment'', Guangzhou, Guangdong, China | [c] Department of Pathology, Cancer Center of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Haiying Liu, Department of Gastrointestinal Surgical Oncology, Cancer Center of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510095, China. Tel.: +86 20 66673666 3654; E-mail:gzdlhy@sina.com
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Over expression of galectin-3 (gal-3) has been
associated with tumor invasion and distant metastases, but few reports
investigated the relation between gal-3 expression and prognosis in stage II
colon cancer. OBJECTIVE: We studied the expressions of gal-3, E-cadherin, and
vimentin in stage II colon cancer to identify predictive factors of clinical
outcome. METHODS: Clinical and laboratory data from 117 consecutive patients
of stage II colon cancer during 2008-2010 were collected and analyzed
retrospectively. Expressions of gal-3, E-cadherin, and vimentin in tumor
tissue were investigated by immunohistochemistry. Potential correlations
between these markers and various clinicopathological parameters as well as
clinical outcomes were studied. Human colon cancer cell line SW480 was used to test the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) inducing effects of gal-3 in vitro. RESULTS: High expression
of tumoral gal-3 was associated with tumor size, poor differentiation and
negatively related to low E-cadherin expression. Compare with adjacent
normal colon tissue, most tumor tissues strongly expressed gal-3 and
vimentin, but had lower E-cadherin expression. Univariate analysis showed
that expressions of gal-3 and vimentin in tumor were predictors of tumor
recurrence and overall survival. Multivariate analysis revealed that tumoral
gal-3 expression was the only independent predictor of both tumor recurrence
and overall survival after resection. Cell experiments and western blotting showed exogenous gal-3
could induce SW480 cells become more aggressive and express more hallmarks of EMT. CONCLUSIONS: Galectin-3 may be a useful marker for identification
of poor prognosis in stage II colon cancer. Cell experiments and western blotting showed exogenous gal-3 could induce SW480 cells become more aggressive and express more hallmarks of EMT.
