Correction: Galectin-3 as a Marker and Potential Therapeutic Target in Breast Cancer

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103482.].

• Galectin-3 silencing increased the frequency of apoptotic MDA-MB-231 cells and sensitized them to ATO-induced apoptosis, consistent with the data in Fig 5 in [1].
Therefore, the replication data, together with human histological data, support the conclusion that Galectin-3 may be a biomarker and therapeutic target of triple-negative breast cancer.
In Fig 3 of the original article [1], there is a vertical line suggestive of image splicing between the two lanes of the MDA-MB-231 Galectin-3 blot. The original data supporting the published figure are no longer available and so the authors were unable to clarify the reason for this image issue. The authors provide here results from replication experiments that were done in triplicate, along with the underlying image and quantification data (S7 File).
The authors also provide here (S8 File) replication data S4 Fig, as the original data underlying this figure are no longer available.
In the replication experiments for the updated versions of Figs 2, 3, 4 and 5, the authors repeated the experiments using the same methods described in the published article. In addition, it was noted that in Table 1, P was reported as 0.000 in three instances. A corrected version of Table 1 is included with this Correction in which these values are reported as <0.001. Data underlying the results in Table 1 are in S9 File.
The authors also provide with this Correction a new version of Table 2. Note that the Materials and Methods section in [1] describing statistical analysis methods used for this table is incorrect. Rather than a logistic regression, a Cox proportional hazards (PH) model was used to determine which factors were predictive of time to post-operative distant metastasis. The corrected version of Table 2 reports results of a reanalysis in which prognostic factors were entered into a multivariate Cox regression model including age, tumor size, histological grade, tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, Galectin-3, and triple-negative breast cancer. In addition, the reanalysis used data from a longer follow-up period (to December 2017, versus December 2012 in [1]). Several factors, including age, tumor stage, and Galectin-3, show significant associations with post-operative distant metastasis in the new analyses (Table 2) but did not emerge as statistically significant in the original analyses [1]. However, for triple-negative Table 1. Galectin-3 expression and clinicopathological features (n = 1187). Clinicopathological data and Galectin-3 expression levels are the same as that in Table 1 of the published article [1]. All the p-values of 0 in the Table 1 of the published article are revised to <0.001. DCIS, ductal carcinoma in situ; IDC, invasive ductal carcinoma. χ 2 -test was used to assess the difference in the percentages of cases with or without Galectin-3 expression in a given clinicopathological parameter. (n = 1187) See S12 File for details of the statistical analyses.

Variables
Galectin-3 -(%) breast cancers, the authors observed a larger p value in the reanalysis than in the originally reported analyses. The strong significance of Galectin-3 in the reanalysis (p<0.001) further supports the conclusion that Galectin-3 expression is an independent prognostic factor of time to post-operative distant metastasis. In the Galectin-3 expression and survival subsection of the Results in [1], the results statement regarding the outcome of analyses in Table 2 states, "A subsequent multivariate analysis revealed that histological grade, lymph node metastasis, and tumor size were significantly associated with post-operative distant metastasis . . ." In light of the reanalysis reported in this notice, this statement should be updated to: "Using Cox regression, age, tumor size, histology, tumor stage, lymph node metastasis and Galectin-3 expression were significantly associated with time to post-operative distant metastasis in a multivariate model also containing TNBC." Data underlying the results in the updated version of Table 2 are in S10 File. The underlying data S6 Fig in [1] are provided here in S11 File. A member of PLOS ONE's Editorial Board and an external reviewer reviewed the updated figures and confirmed that they support the results and conclusions reported in the article.