%0 Journal Article
%T Prognostic Value of Galectin Expression in Patients with Breast Cancer: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
%A Ramos-Martínez JC
%A Altamirano-Gómez G
%A Ramos-Martínez I
%A Valencia J
%A Hernández-Zimbrón L
%A Hernández-Juárez J
%A Echeverría-Vásquez P
%A Hernández-González LL
%A Pérez-Campos E
%A Pérez-Campos Mayoral L
%A Ramos-Martínez E
%J Clin Breast Cancer
%V 22
%N 5
%D 07 2022
%M 35058144
%F 3.078
%R 10.1016/j.clbc.2021.12.011
%X Galectins are a family of proteins with affinity for β-galactosides and their expression correlates with overall survival (OS) in several cancers. However, in breast cancer their prognostic potential is unclear. In this study we performed a meta-analysis to clarify the prognostic value of galectin expression in breast cancer and to identify sources of heterogeneity. For this purpose, we performed a search of related publications in PubMed, Central-Conchrane, Web of Science database, OVID-EMBASE, Scope and EBSCOhost until November 2021.Thirteen articles were included with a total of 2700 patients. High galectin expression was found not to correlate with OS in breast cancer (HR = 1.11, 95% CI 0.93-1.31). In the case of galectin-3, correlation with OS was observed when performing subgroup analysis by cellular localization (HR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.36-0.94 for cytoplasmic and HR = 1.82, 95% CI 1.00-3.29 for cytoplasmic plus nuclear). Galectin-7 correlates with DFS/PFS/DSS (HR = 2.43; 95% CI 1.36-4.31). Finally, galectin-3 correlates with some clinicopathological features such as lymph node metastasis, estrogen receptor expression and age. In conclusion, galectin-3 correlates with OS in breast cancer when cellular localization is considered while galectin-7 correlates with DFS/PFS/DSS. The cellular localization of galectins should be as fundamental aspect to be determined in future studies.