Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2012; 60 - V167
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1297557

Expression of myocardial Galectin-3 does not correlate with its serum levels in patients with chronic heart failure

J Rothkopf 1, S Reinwand 2, S Kreth 2, F Weis 2, A Dick 3, I Kaczmarek 1, A Beiras-Fernandez 1
  • 1Herzchirurgische Klinik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany
  • 2Klinik für Anaesthesiologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany
  • 3Transfusionsmedizin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany

Introduction: Galectins are a family of soluble lectins expressed on a variety of tissues that play many important regulatory roles in inflammation, immunity, and cancer. The up-regulation of galectin-3 in hypertrophied hearts, and the development of fibrosis have been shown in experimental studies. Increased galectin-3 levels are associated with poor long-term survival in chronic heart failure (CHF). We examined the relationship between plasma galectin-3 levels and the myocardial tissue expression of galectin-3 in patients with end-stage CHF.

Material and methods: Expression of Galectin-3 was assessed by means of real-time PCR on left ventricle and atrial myocardium of patients (n=12) with CHF undergoing heart transplantation. All patients gave informed consent. A control group consisting of left ventricle (n=5) and right atrium (n=5) muscle biopsies from patients with good ejection fraction (EF >65%) was designed. Serum expression of Galectin-3 was assessed by means of ELISA in serum from 20 patients in end-stage CHF and in 20 healthy volunteers, who served as control.

Results: Expression of Galectin-3 was similar in the myocardium of patients in comparison to the control group independently of the anatomical area (CHF vs. healthy ventricle: 1.73E-02 vs. 1.50 E-02; CHF vs. healthy atrium: 1.32E-02 vs. 1.16E-02). However, serum expression of Galectin-3 was significantly higher in the end-stage CHF patients compared to the healthy controls (13.02±10.6 vs. 3.7±1.3ng/ml; p<0.05)

Conclusions: Plasma galectin-3 levels correlate with the ejection fraction and are elevated in patients with CHF. However, the myocardial expression of Galectin-3 does not correlate with the ventricular ejection fraction. Our data support the use of Galectin-3 as a marker of heart insufficiency, though the therapeutic potential of Galectin-3 in the treatment of heart failure may be limited.