@article {OKADA1369, author = {KOHJI OKADA and TATSUO SHIMURA and TAKETOSHI SUEHIRO and ERITO MOCHIKI and HIROYUKI KUWANO}, title = {Reduced Galectin-3 Expression is an Indicator of Unfavorable Prognosis in Gastric Cancer}, volume = {26}, number = {2B}, pages = {1369--1376}, year = {2006}, publisher = {International Institute of Anticancer Research}, abstract = {Background: Galectin-3 (gal-3) participates in a variety of biological events, including cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of gal-3 expression with clinicopathological findings and prognosis in patients with gastric cancer. Patients and Methods: Gal-3 and Ki-67 expressions were assessed by immunohistochemistry in 115 patients with gastric cancer. PCR-single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP)-sequence analysis and the levels of gal-3 mRNA were also examined. Results: The present study demonstrated that gal-3 expression was correlated with nodal status, lymphatic invasion, pathological stage and histological parameters. On the other hand, gal-3 expression did not correlate with the expression of Ki-67. Reduced expression of gal-3 was significantly associated with a poor prognosis and multivariate analysis showed that gal-3 expression was an independent prognostic factor. On PCR-SSCP-sequence analysis, 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected in the gal-3 gene, but none showed mutations. Conclusion: Reduced gal-3 expression was associated with lymph node metastasis, advanced stage and tumor differentiation in gastric cancer. Gal-3 expression could be a useful prognostic factor in gastric cancer. Copyright{\textcopyright} 2006 International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. John G. Delinassios), All rights reserved}, issn = {0250-7005}, URL = {https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/26/2B/1369}, eprint = {https://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/26/2B/1369.full.pdf}, journal = {Anticancer Research} }