Galectin-3 in the blood serum of patients with bone tumors

Abstract

Background. Due to diversity of cancer, the functional role of galectin-3 is rather controversial; however, for many types of neoplasms, the marker acts as a tumor growth promoter.Aim. To perform a comparative analysis of galectin-3 levels in the blood serum of healthy individuals and patients with benign, borderline, and malignant bone tumors divided into two age groups (under and over 18 years of age) based on the main clinical and morphological characteristics of the disease and prognosis.Materials and methods. The study included 201 patients with benign, borderline (giant cell tumors, locally aggressive tumors), and malignant bone tumors and 31 healthy donors. The galectin-3 level was determined in the blood serum before treatment with Human Galectin-3 ELISA kit (R&D, USA).Results. The level of galectin-3 in the blood serum of patients with benign and malignant bone tumors was statistically significantly higher than that in the control group of patients both under and over 18 years. In patients with borderline bone tumors, a trend toward an increase in the galectin-3 concentration compared with the controls was revealed. The ROC analysis for galectin-3 in patients with bone sarcomas showed that the area under the curve (AUC) comprised 0.795 (р < 0.0001) in the group of patients over 18 years and 0.868 (р = 0.0008) in the individuals under 18 years. For malignant bone tumors in patients over 18 years, the sensitivity of this method was 71.3%, and specificity was 71.43% (optimal cut-off level was 8.09 ng / ml; р < 0.0001), while in patients under 18 years, the sensitivity of the method was 80%, and specificity was 90% (optimal cut-off level was 5.49 ng / ml; р < 0.001). No significant associations between the serum galectin-3 level and the clinical and morphological characteristics of bone neoplasms were found both in patients under and over 18 years of age. However, it could be noted that the highest concentration of the marker was found in chordomas and at earlier stages of the disease. In patients over 18 years with chondrosarcoma and osteosarcoma, no correlation between the marker and the disease prognosis was found.Conclusion. An increase in the galectin-3 level in the blood serum was observed in all age groups of patients with both benign and malignant bone tumors. However, the sensitivity and specificity of the method assessed by the ROC analysis do not allow to apply this marker for the diagnosis of bone tumors.