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Published in: World Journal of Urology 6/2008

01-12-2008 | Original Article

Loss of galectin-3 expression correlates with clear cell renal carcinoma progression and reduced survival

Authors: Axel S. Merseburger, Mario W. Kramer, Jörg Hennenlotter, Jürgen Serth, Stephan Kruck, Alfredo Gracia, Arnulf Stenzl, Markus A. Kuczyk

Published in: World Journal of Urology | Issue 6/2008

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Abstract

Objectives

Galectin-3 is a member of the glycoprotein family, actively involved in various biological interactions including cell growth, cell adhesion, cell differentiation and apoptosis. The aim of this study was to analyze the expression of galectin-3 in clear cell renal carcinoma and to assess its prognostic significance.

Methods

The expression of galectin-3 was analyzed by immunohistochemistry in 149 clear cell renal carcinomas. The levels were correlated to established clinical parameters such as nuclear grade, pathological stage, lymph node, distant metastasis, and patients’ survival.

Results

In normal kidney tissue, the expression of galectin-3 was found to be uniformly present in the tubular epithelial cells. A decrease of antigen expression levels were significantly associated with higher T-stages (P < 0.02), unfavourable long-term prognosis in univariate Kaplan–Meier (P < 0.007) and multivariate Cox proportional hazard analyses (P < 0.04). Univariate analysis could demonstrate an association with tumor-specific death with decreased galectin-3 expression, whereas multivariate analysis failed to prove the aforementioned observation.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that a loss of galectin-3 expression is involved in renal carcinogenesis.
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Metadata
Title
Loss of galectin-3 expression correlates with clear cell renal carcinoma progression and reduced survival
Authors
Axel S. Merseburger
Mario W. Kramer
Jörg Hennenlotter
Jürgen Serth
Stephan Kruck
Alfredo Gracia
Arnulf Stenzl
Markus A. Kuczyk
Publication date
01-12-2008
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
World Journal of Urology / Issue 6/2008
Print ISSN: 0724-4983
Electronic ISSN: 1433-8726
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-008-0294-8

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