Clinical significance of galectin-7 in epithelial ovarian cancer.

BACKGROUND: Galectin-7 (GAL-7) has been highlighted as an important marker in many types of cancers by either inhibiting or promoting tumor growth. In this novel study, we assessed the association of GAL-7 with clinicopathological variables and survival outcomes in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and investigated the role of GAL-7 in proliferation of ovarian cancer cell lines.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The expression of GAL-7 was determined in 63 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded EOC tissues using an immunohistochemical method and we compared various associated clinicopathological factors. To evaluate the role of GAL-7 in cell proliferation, we performed proliferation assays with GAL-7 siRNA using ovarian cancer cell lines, including A2780-PAR cells.

RESULTS: Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that GAL-7 expression was primarily detected in nuclei and occasionally in the nucleus and cytoplasm. High GAL-7 expression was associated with greater age (p=0.016), high mortality (p=0.025), and poor overall survival outcome (p=0.029). In addition, the residual tumor volume was larger in the high-expression group compared to the low-expression group, although the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.059). Down-regulation of GAL-7 using siRNA resulted in the inhibition of cell proliferation of A2780-PAR cells.

CONCLUSION: We observed that high GAL-7 might be associated with poor survival outcome in patients with EOC, and may be functionally involved in cell proliferation.