Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P17931 (galectin-3)
 2,860 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Galectins are a family of proteins that share an affinity for beta-galactoside containing glycoconjugates. In prostate, ovarian and breast cancer, downregulation of galectin-3 is associated with malignancy and tumor progression. Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is characterized as an angioproliferative tumor of vascular endothelial cells and produces rare B cell lymphoproliferative diseases in the form of primary effusion lymphomas and some forms of multicentric Castleman's disease. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the etiological agent of KS. We found reduced levels of galectin-3 expression in a significant fraction of latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA)-positive spindle cell regions in human archival KS tissue and as measured in KS tissue microarrays. Here we demonstrate that galectin-3 protein expression is downregulated 10-fold in 10-day KSHV-infected dermal microvascular endothelial cells (DMVEC) accompanied by downregulation of message. There is loss of galectin-3 staining in KSHV-infected DMVEC by dual labeled immunohistochemistry in LANA-positive spindle cells. We observed a consistent downregulation of galectin-3 by time-course transcriptional analysis. Of the galectins assayed, only galectin-1 was also downregulated in KSHV-infected DMVEC. We examined 86 KS tumors; 19 were LANA positive (22%) and 67 LANA negative (78%). All 86 tumors were found to be galectin-3 positive; 11 of 19 showed reduced expression of galectin-3 in LANA-positive spindle cell regions. Our data suggest that KSHV vFLIP and LANA are the viral genes targeting galectin-3 downregulation. The contribution of host factors to the pathogenesis of KS is essential for early detection and development of innovative therapies for treatment.
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PMID:KSHV downregulation of galectin-3 in Kaposi's sarcoma. 2004 May 15

We investigated protein profiles specific to vascular lesions mimicking Kaposi sarcoma (KS), based on stepwise morphogenesis progression of KS. We surveyed 26 tumor-associated proteins in 130 cases, comprising 39 benign vascular lesions (BG), 14 hemangioendotheliomas (HE), 37 KS, and 40 angiosarcomas (AS), by immunohistochemistry. The dominant proteins in KS were HHV8, lymphatic markers, Rb, phosphorylated Rb, VEGF, and galectin-3. Aberrant expression of p53, inactivation of cell cycle inhibitors, loss of beta-catenin, and increased VEGFR1 were more frequent in AS. HE had the lowest Ki-67 index, and the inactivation rates of cell cycle inhibitors in HE were between those of AS and BG/KS. Protein expression patterns in BG and KS were similar. Clustering analysis showed that the 130 cases were divided into three clusters: AS-rich, BG-rich, and KS-rich clusters. The AS-rich cluster was characterized by high caveolin-1 positivity, abnormal p53, high Ki-67 index, and inactivated p27. The KS-rich cluster shared the features of KS, and the BG-rich group had high positive expression rates of galectin-3 and low bcl2 expression. In conclusion, although the rate was different, AS and HE tended to have less cell cycle marker expression than KS, and features of BG and activated KS cell signaling were similar.
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PMID:Tumor-Associated Protein Profiles in Kaposi Sarcoma and Mimicking Vascular Tumors, and Their Pathological Implications. 3125 33