Overexpression of galectin-1 at the tumor invasion front is associated with poor prognosis in early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma

Galectin-1 is a major effector of TrkB-mediated neuroblastoma aggressiveness

“…This is important, because the inhibition of Gal-1 functions by siRNA has been shown to inhibit tumor angiogenesis, which can be accomplished by siRNA (Mathieu et al, 2007) or by a Gal-1-specific peptide (Thijssen et al, 2006). Gal-1 expression has also been correlated with tumor aggressiveness (Jung et al, 2007;Chiang et al, 2008). In invasive breast cancer, Gal-1 was found in cancer-associated stromal cells (Jung et al, 2007), which is in accordance with our findings in NB (Figure 2).…”

T-cell death and cancer immune tolerance

“…95 Human squamous laryngeal cancer patients that display high levels of galectin-1 have worse prognoses than those with laryngeal cancers with low levels of galectin-1 expression. 96 Elevated expression of galectin-1 in carcinoma-associated stroma predicts poor outcome in prostate carcinoma patients. 97 Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas that stained strongly for galectin-1 had significantly lower levels of T cells (as assessed by CD3 staining) than those with negative or weak staining for galectin-1.…”

Galectin-1, a novel ligand of neuropilin-1, activates VEGFR-2 signaling and modulates the migration of vascular endothelial cells

“…Staining of Gal-1 in cancer-associated endothelial cells was significantly more pronounced than in matched adjacent nontumor mucosa vascular endothelial cells (two-tailed Fisher's Exact Test, Po0.001). Elevated expression of Gal-1 has been reported in tumor-associated stroma from prostate (van den Brule et al, 2001), breast (Jung et al, 2007) and oral carcinomas (Chiang et al, 2007). Therefore, we further investigated the extracellular functions of Gal-1, and explored the molecular pathway by which Gal-1 affects ECs.…”

“…Because Gal-1 interacts with specific glycoconjugates, it has been implicated in several biological processes, including cell proliferation, cell adhesion, apoptosis, metastasis and immunoregulation (Rabinovich, 2005;Camby et al, 2006). Immunohistochemical staining of Gal-1 in clinical cancer samples revealed that Gal-1 expression was positively associated with the malignant progression of many tumor types such as a malignant glioma, prostate cancer and oral squamous cell carcinoma (Rorive et al, 2001;van den Brule et al, 2001;Chiang et al, 2007). The high expression of Gal-1 in tumor-associated vascular endothelial cells (TAVECs) was identified in cases of prostate cancer, colon carcinoma and Ewing sarcoma (Clausse et al, 1999;Thijssen et al, 2006), and Gal-1 expression levels were significantly correlated with prostate tumor aggressiveness (Clausse et al, 1999).…”