Molecular genetic studies of galectins expression profiling in leukemia

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukemia is being revealed as an increasingly heterogeneous entity as the molecular aberrations underlying it are defined. Such information is fundamental in assessment of the chances of durable treatment response. Morphological complete remission is now achieved in the majority of patients with current chemotherapeutic regimens, so the main determinants of prognosis are therefore those variables that influence treatment-related death or relapse risk.

Galectins are proteins with 15 known members found in nearly all living organisms. They share a conserved CRD that binds beta-galactoside sugars, and functions to cross-link glycoproteins as well as glycolipid receptors on the surface of cells to initiate biological responses. Functional studies on the extracellular and intracellular roles of galectins implicate them in cell adhesion, chemoattraction and migration as well as growth, differentiation and apoptosis. Therefore, studies were conducted to identify functional roles of galectins in cancers. So far, three members of galectin family (galectin-1, galectin-3, and galectin-9) were just previously studied in AML. Aim of the work: The aim of this study was to investigate the expression profile of eight members of galectins family and correlating them with clinicopathological data, in order to elucidate potential prognostic markers for AML.