Table 1.

Expression, localization, cellular distribution, proposed function, and biomarker relevance for galectins in ovarian cancer.

Galectin	Histological Subtypes	Distribution	Cellular Localization	Function in Ovarian Cancer	Prognosis
Gal-1	Serous Endometrioid Mucinous Clear cell [70,84,86]	Tumor cell Tumor stroma [69] Stroma [70]	Nucleus, Cytoplasm [70]	Mediate EMT, cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and cell signaling [71,76]	Higher levels of Gal-1 in the peritumoral stroma associated with poor PFS [70] Cytoplasmic levels of Gal-1 were closely related with OS [86] Interstitial Gal-1 was an independent prognostic factor in ovarian cancer patients [86]
Gal-3	Serous Endometrioid Mucinous Clear cell [87]	Cancer cell Stroma [86,87]	Cytoplasm [31,86,87] Nucleus [86]	Contributing to stem-like properties [88] Promoting chemoresistance [31,88,89,90] Promoting cell invasion and migration [88]	High Gal-3 cytoplasmic expression correlated with poor PFS [31] Low Gal-3 expression in nuclei associated with reduced OS [86] High Gal-3 expression correlated with reduced OS [90]
Gal-7	Serous Endometrioid Mucinous [91] Serous Endometrioid Mucinous Clear cell [86]	Epithelial cell [92]	Nucleus, Cytoplasm [91] Cytoplasm [86]	Down-regulation of Gal-7 expression inhibited tumor cell proliferation [91] Expression increased the invasive properties of ovarian cancer cells and by killing immune cells [92]	Higher levels had a more inferior OS [91] High expression reduced OS and higher expression is an independent prognostic factor for OS [86]
Gal-8	Serous Endometrioid Mucinous Clear cell [87,93]	Tumor cell [87,93] Stroma [87]	Nucleus [93] Cytoplasm [87,93]	None found	High expression in epithelial component correlated with chemoresistance [87] Positive nuclear staining correlated with lower stage [93] Low expression in cytoplasm correlated with lymph node metastasis and higher stage [93] Higher plasma levels correlated with lower 5-year DFS and 5-year OS [87] High expression in the cytoplasm correlated with better DFS and OS [93]
Gal-9	Serous Endometrioid Mucinous clear cell [87,93]	Cancer cell [87,93] Stroma [87]	Cytoplasm [87,93]	Inhibiting cell proliferation and pushing cells towards apoptosis [94]	High expression presented more often with low tumor stage, lower grading, and younger age [93] Epithelial expression correlated with a lower 5-year OS [87] High plasma levels were associated with a lower 5-year DFS and 5-year OS [87] High expression showed the more favorable PFS and OS [93]