Galectin-1, a potential therapeutic target, in primary tumors and metastases of urinary bladder carcinomas

• Urinary bladder cancer would gain from new protein biomarkers due to the heterogeneity of disease. The beta-galactoside-binding protein (GAL1) is one such candidate and in present study its prognostic value and expression at protein level in metastatic bladder cancer-disease, have been evaluated. The protein expression of GAL1 was investigated by immunohistochemistry in two tumor cohorts, one with primary tumors of different stage and grade (n=344) and another with primary tumors matched with metastases (n=90). The expression in the actual cancer cells as well as in stroma and blood vessels were considered since the presence of GAL1 in different tissue compartments has shown cancer relevance. The cellular expression increased with increased tumor stage and grade (p<0.001). For the majority of the patients, cells from both primary tumor and metastasis showed a positive immunoreactivity for GAL1 (91% (n=64) for primary tumors with single metastasis (n=70) and 100% (n=20) for primary tumors with multiple metastasis (n=20). Further, strong immunoreactivity in T1 tumor cells correlated with lower risk of recurrence (p<0.05). Both tumors and metastasis exhibited strong stromal-GAL1 staining that could not be correlated with clinical parameters. The expression in vessels showed that T1 tumors surrounded by GAL1 negative blood vessels had a higher risk of progression (p<0.0001) into muscle invasive T2-4 stages. The results show that GAL1 is an important bladder cancer-protein from several aspects. Further, GAL1 is a promising therapeutic target in bladder cancer due to the general expression in advanced disease.

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