Galectin-3 Serum Levels Could Help Clinicians Screen for Salivary Gland Tumor Patients

OBJECTIVE: To identify serum levels of galectin-3 in salivary gland cancer and healthy populations; a prospective analysis was performed on serum specimens from 105 patients with salivary gland cancer and 56 healthy persons. METHODS: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure levels of galectin-3 (GAL-3). Serum levels were compared between patients with salivary gland tumors and healthy control. A total of 105 patients were enrolled in the study (55 men, 50 women). RESULT: Mean age was 45.5 years. Thirty-nine patients with malignant and 66 cases with benign tumors were compared with 56 healthy participants with a mean age of 51.7. No statistically significant differences were observed when comparing GAL-3 serum levels between malignant and benign salivary gland tumor patients, but a statistically significant difference was found between case and control patients with p-values of 0.02. Serum levels of galectin-3 protein were elevated in patients with salivary gland cancer compared with the healthy population. CONCLUSION: The difference between benign and malignant tumor patients was significant, but revealed no clinic pathological characteristics in malignant tumors. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time a study suggests that GAL-3 serum levels could help clinicians screen for salivary gland cancer.