GALECTIN-1 SERUM LEVELS REFLECT TUMOR BURDEN AND ADVERSE CLINICAL FEATURES IN HODGKIN LYMPHOMA

JING OUYANG; ANNETTE PLÜTSCHOW; ELKE POGGE VON STRANDMANN; KATRIN REINERS; SABINE PONADER; GABRIEL A. RABINOVICH; DONNA NEUBERG; ANDREAS ENGERT; MARGARET A. SHIPP

BLOOD, THE JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEMATOLOGY - PRINT

AMER SOC HEMATOLOGY

Lugar: Washington; Año: 2013 vol. 121 p. 3431 - 3433

0006-4971

Galectin-1 (Gal1) is a member of a highly conserved family of carbohydrate-binding proteins that modulates innate and adaptive immune responses and fosters tumor-immune escape. Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) Reed-Sternberg (RS) cells overexpress and secrete Gal1, which selectively kills Th1,Th17 and cytotoxic T cells and promotes the immunosuppressive Th2/Treg-predominant HL microenvironment. We developed a sandwich ELISA and assessed serum Gal1 levels in 315 newly diagnosed, previously untreated HL patients enrolled on 3 risk-adapted clinical trials. Serum Gal1 levels were significantly higher in HL patients than in normal controls (p < .0001). Gal1 serum levels also increased with Ann Arbor stage (p < .0001), areas of nodal involvement (p = .0001) and the International Prognostic Score (IPS) (2-7, p = .006). We conclude that Gal1 serum levels are significantly associated with tumor burden and additional adverse clinical characteristics in newly diagnosed HL Patients.