Table 1.
Significance of galectins in tissue and serum in BC
| Galectin | Expression in tissue/cell line | Serum/plasma concentration | Proposed clinical utility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galectin-1 |
↑ in stromal cells of invasive BC and correlate with tumour invasiveness (Jung et al. 2007) ↑ in claudin-low BC (Balestrieri et al. 2021) ↑association with a poor prognosis (Chetry et al. 2022) |
↓ (Barrow et al. 2011) ↑ in preoperative patients (Gurel Cayir et al. 2020) ↑ in patients exposed to treatment (Funkhouser et al. 2023) ↑ (in stage I and III) (Blair et al. 2021) ↑ in patients with KIT mutation (Funkhouser et al. 2022) ↓ in patients with FLT3 mutation in luminal A subtype (Markalunas et al. 2024) |
Therapeutic target (Dalotto-Moreno et al. 2013; Chung et al. 2024) Treatment evaluation (Gurel Cayir et al. 2020) |
| Galectin-2 | ↑ associated with a better prognosis (Chetry et al. 2022) | ↑ (Barrow et al. 2011) |
Potential immunotherapy target in TNBC (Ji et al. 2022) Immunotherapy response, drug resistance (He et al. 2023) Immunotherapeutic biomarker, potential therapeutic target (Li et al. 2024) |
| Galectin-3 |
↓ associated with aggressiveness and poor prognosis (Castronovo et al. 1996; Ilmer et al. 2016; Shafiq et al. 2020) ↓ associated with advanced locoregional invasion and poor survival (Ilmer et al. 2016) ↑ levels in stroma in relationship with response to chemotherapy (Shafiq et al. 2020) |
↑ (Barrow, et al. 2011; Blair et al. 2021; Topcu et al. Sep. 2018) inverse relationship with increasing grade (Shafiq et al. Mar. 2020) ↑ in relationship with chemotherapy response (Shafiq et al. Mar. 2020) ↑ in patients with KIT mutation (Funkhouser et al. 2022) ↑ in patients with both TP53 and PIK3CA mutations (Markalunas et al. 2024) ↑ in patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (Markalunas et al. 2024) |
Chemotherapy response.(Shafiq et al. 2020) |
| Galectin-7 |
↑ increase metastasise ability of BC cells (Demers et al. 2010) ↑ in the cytoplasm—worse outcome (Trebo et al. 2020) |
↑ (in stage I) (Blair et al. 2021) | Targeted therapy (cell lines) (Grosset et al. 2014) |
| Galectin-8 | ↑ in the cytoplasm—improved outcome (Trebo et al. 2020) |
↑ (Barrow, et al. 2011) ↑ in patients with KIT mutation (Funkhouser et al. 2022) |
Therapeutic potential (Chien et al. 2025) |
| Galectin-9 | Antimetastatic and prognostic potential (Irie, et al. 2005) |
↑ in HER2-amplified tissues (Funkhouser et al. 2023) ↓ in samples with positive hormone receptor markers (Funkhouser et al. 2023) ↑ in patients with KIT mutation (Funkhouser et al. 2022; Markalunas et al. 2024) ↓ in patients with FLT3 mutation in luminal A subtype (Markalunas et al. 2024) |
Dynamic biomarker after radiotherapy for TNBC, therapeutic implications (Lerévérend et al. 2025) |
↑—high expression/concentration, ↓—low expression/concentration