Publication:

Immunohistochemical expression of galectin-3 in carcinoma of uterine cervix

Background Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancer among women worldwide, second to breast cancer. It’s difficult to diagnose in the early stage due to subtle and non-specific symptoms. Galectin-3 is increasingly being recognized as an important regulator of a broad range of cancer cell activities including cervical cancer. Its expression depends on the tumor grade which signifies its role in progression of the disease and prognostic significance.

Method The present study was conducted in department of pathology, Pt. B. D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak on 60 cases of histo-pathologically diagnosed squamous cell carcinoma of uterine cervix. Immunohistochemical (ICH) expression of marker ‘Galectin-3’was assessed in all biopsy specimens.

Results Galectin-3 expression was 1+ in 83.3% cases and 2+ in 16.6% cases of grade 1 cervix carcinoma. In grade 2 carcinomas 55.3% showed 1+, 42.1% showed 2+ and 2.6 % cases showed 0 galectin -3 expression. Further, 70% of grade III cases showed a score of 2+, and 10 % showed 1+ expression and 20 % didn’t show any galectin 3 positivity. A statistically significant association of galectin-3 expression with histological grade was observed.

Conclusions IHC expression of galectin-3 can be used as an important marker for grading of cervical carcinoma, therefore the present study was done to evaluate the IHC expression of galectin 3 in cervical cancer and correlate it with histologic tumour grade.