Both serum and tissue Galectin‐1 levels are associated with adverse clinical features in neuroblastoma

• Published in: Pediatric blood & cancer Vol. 65; no. 9; pp. e27229 - n/a
• Main Authors: Chen, Kai, Cai, Yuanxia, Zhang, Min, Wu, Zhixiang, Wu, Yeming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2018
• Subjects: biomarker; Biomonitoring; Bone marrow; chemotherapy; Galectin‐1; Hematology; Medical prognosis; Metastases; Metastasis; Neuroblastoma; Oncology; Patients; Pediatrics; Solid tumors; Survival; neuroblastoma; Galectin-1; biomarker; chemotherapy
• ISSN: 1545-5009; 1545-5017; 1545-5017
• DOI: 10.1002/pbc.27229

Background Neuroblastoma is one of the most common pediatric solid tumors. Although the 5‐year overall survival rate has increased over the past few decades, high‐risk patients still have a poor prognosis due to a lack of biomonitoring therapy. This study was performed to investigate the role of Galectin‐1 in neuroblastoma biomonitoring therapy. Procedure A tissue microarray containing 37 neuroblastoma tissue samples was used to evaluate the correlation between Galectin‐1 expression and clinical features. Blood samples were examined to better understand whether serum Galectin‐1 (sGalectin‐1) could be used for biomonitoring therapy. Kaplan–Meier analysis and ROC analysis was conducted to distinguish the outcome associated with high or low expression of Galectin‐1 in patients with neuroblastoma. Results Increased Galectin‐1 expression was found in neuroblastoma and it was further demonstrated that elevated tissue Galectin‐1 expression was related to INSS stage, histology, bone marrow metastasis, and poor survival. sGalectin‐1 levels were higher in newly diagnosed patients with neuroblastoma than healthy subjects. Patients with elevated sGalectin‐1 through treatment cycles correlated with the poor chemo‐responses and tended to have worse outcomes, such as metastasis or stable tumor size, whereas gradually decreasing sGalectin‐1 levels correlated with no observed progression in clinical symptoms. Conclusions Tissue and serum Galectin‐1 levels were associated with adverse clinical features in patients with neuroblastoma, and sGalectin‐1 could be a potential biomarker for monitoring therapy.