Serum galectins as potential biomarkers of inflammatory bowel diseases

The inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), which include mainly Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are common chronic inflammatory conditions of the digestive system. The diagnosis of IBD relies on the use of a combination of factors including symptoms, endoscopy and levels of serum proteins such as C-reactive protein (CRP) or faecal calprotectin. Currently there is no single reliable biomarker to determine IBD. Galectins are a family of galactoside-binding proteins that are commonly altered in the circulation of disease conditions such as cancer and inflammation. This study investigated serum galectin levels as possible biomarkers in determining IBD and IBD disease activity. Levels of galectins-1, -2, -3, -4, -7 and -8 were analysed in 208 samples from ambulant IBD patients (97 CD, 71 UC) patients and 40 from healthy people. Disease activity was assessed using Harvey-Bradshaw Index for CD and simple clinical colitis activity index for UC. The relationship of each galectin in determining IBD and IBD disease activity were analysed and compared with current IBD biomarker CRP. It was found that serum level of galectin-1 and -3, but not galectins-2, -4, -7 and -8, were significantly higher in IBD patients than in healthy people. At cut-off of 4.1ng/ml, galectin-1 differentiated IBD from healthy controls with 71% sensitivity and 87% specificity. At cut-off of 38.5ng/ml, galectin-3 separated IBD from healthy controls with 53% sensitivity and 87% specificity. None of the galectins however were able to distinguish active disease from remission in UC or CD. Thus, levels of galectins-1 and -3 are significantly elevated in both UC and CD patients compared to healthy people. Although the increased galectin levels are not able to separate active and inactive UC and CD, they may have the potential to be developed as useful biomarkers for IBD diagnosis either alone or in combination with other biomarkers.