Galectins-1, -3, -7, -8 and -9 as prognostic markers for survival in epithelial ovarian cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Galectins are a family of proteins that have recently emerged as regulators of cancer biology.

Objectives: To investigate the impact of peritumoral and tumoral galectin expression on ovarian cancer prognosis.

Search strategy: We searched Medline, Cochrane, and EMBASE databases from inception until March 22, 2020.

Selection criteria: All studies correlating galectins and ovarian cancer prognosis were selected.

Data collection and analysis: The literature search presented 11 studies, which contained 1034 patients. Meta-analysis was performed with RevMan 5.3 software.

Main results: Studies were stratified into two groups depending on the location of galectin expression (peritumoral stroma or nucleus/cytoplasm of tumor cells). Tumoral galectin-7 and galectin-9 expression was significantly associated with poor overall survival (odds ratio [OR] 2.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.32-3.21, P = 0.001; OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.27-2.30, P < 0.001, respectively). The total effect of high tumoral expression of galectins in overall survival and progression-free survival was significant (OR 1.51, 95% CI 1.02-2.23, P = 0.04; OR 2.76, 95% CI 1.73-4.40, P < 0.001, respectively).

Conclusions: Our results suggest that galectins are implicated in ovarian cancer prognosis; however, further research is needed to ascertain their actual importance as well as their diagnostic accuracy.