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. 2022;31(1):59-65.
doi: 10.1159/000521467. Epub 2021 Dec 16.

The Role of Serum Galectin-3 Levels in Patients with Sarcoidosis

Kaan Kara  1 , Seda Tural Onur  1 , Sinem Nedime Sokucu  1 , Ozlem Kahya  2 , Cengiz Ozdemir  1 , Evin Ademoglu  3
Affiliations

The Role of Serum Galectin-3 Levels in Patients with Sarcoidosis

Kaan Kara et al. Med Princ Pract. 2022.

Abstract

Introduction: Galectin-3 is a multifunctional protein, the levels of which increase in the presence of diseases that progress with pulmonary fibrosis. This study investigated the role of galectin-3 levels in the staging and assessing of the severity of sarcoidosis.

Methods and subjects: Seventy-three subjects were studied; 25 were healthy individuals and 48 patients had pathologically confirmed diagnosis of sarcoidosis in which other potential causes had been ruled out. Galectin-3 levels were measured and compared in terms of such parameters as hemogram, biochemistry, age, body mass index, and smoking status.

Results: The mean galectin-3 levels of the sarcoidosis patients (14.87 ± 5.57) were significantly higher than those in the healthy subjects (11.81 ± 2.67), and the mean galectin-3 levels differed significantly among different stages of the disease (p < 0.05). The serum galectin-3 level in patients with stage 2, 3, and 4 sarcoidosis was found to be higher than in patients with stage 0 and 1 sarcoidosis and the control group. In addition, serum galectin-3 levels in the sarcoidosis patients had significant positive correlations with blood urea nitrogen, alkaline phosphatase, white blood cells, red blood cell, hemoglobin, and neutrophil levels (34.9% [p < 0.05]; 40.1% [p < 0.05]; 41.2% [p < 0.01]; 43.3% [p < 0.01]; 34.7% [p < 0.05]; and 40.6% [p < 0.01], respectively) and a significant negative correlation with the platelet distribution width levels (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Serum galectin-3 levels are significantly elevated in sarcoidosis patients with parenchymal involvement at stage 2 or higher, suggesting that serum galectin-3 levels can be used to estimate disease severity in sarcoidosis.

Keywords: Galectin-3; Inflammation; Pulmonary fibrosis; Sarcoidosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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