Galectin-3: A Potential Prognostic and Diagnostic Marker for Heart Disease and Detection of Early Stage Pathology

Abstract

The use of molecular biomarkers for the early detection of heart disease, before their onset of symptoms, is an attractive novel approach. Ideal molecular biomarkers, those that are both sensitive and specific to heart disease, are likely to provide a much earlier diagnosis, thereby providing better treatment outcomes. Galectin-3 is expressed by various immune cells, including mast cells, histiocytes and macrophages, and plays an important role in diverse physiological functions. Since galectin-3 is readily expressed on the cell surface, and is readily secreted by injured and inflammatory cells, it has been suggested that cardiac galectin-3 could be a marker for cardiac disorders such as cardiac inflammation and fibrosis, depending on the specific pathogenesis. Thus, galectin-3 may be a novel candidate biomarker for the diagnosis, analysis and prognosis of various cardiac diseases, including heart failure. The goals of heart disease treatment are to prevent acute onset and to predict their occurrence by using the ideal molecular biomarkers. In this review, we discuss and summarize recent developments of galectin-3 as a next-generation molecular biomarker of heart disease. Furthermore, we describe how galectin-3 may be useful as a diagnostic marker for detecting the early stages of various heart diseases, which may contribute to improved early therapeutic interventions.

Keywords: animal model; biomarker; diagnostic; early stage; galectin-3; heart disease; prognostic.

Figure 1

Schematic diagram of the galectin family members. Galectin members are divided into three types based on the organization of the galectin carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD).

Figure 2

The cardiac lesions of dilated cardiomyopathy in the late stage of δ-sarcoglycan (δ-SG) knockout (KO) mice. Microphotographs for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, Azan staining and immunohistochemistry of Gal-3 are shown. Scale bars in H&E = 1 mm in the upper panel and 100 μm in the lower panel. Gal-3 expression sites indicated by arrows are identical to the fibrotic areas detected as blue in azan staining.