Absence of galectin-3 does not affect the development of experimental tongue carcinomas in mice

Abstract

Absence of galectin-3 did not directly affect the process of carcinogenesis and a cytoplasm shift of galectin-3 seems to be associated with development of tongue carcinomas.

Hedgehog signaling pathway mediates tongue tumorigenesis in wild-type mice but not in Gal3-deficient mice

“…In contrast, Eude-Le Parco et al (2009) showed no influence of Gal3 in the development of breast and colon tumors or in the occurrence of metastasis in LGALS3-silenced mice. Similarly, our previous report found no difference in the incidence of tongue tumor between Gal3 +/+ and Gal3−/− mice, which in part might be associated with equal and persistent Wnt signaling pathway activation in both genotypes (de Faria et al, 2011;Sant'ana et al, 2011). This observation was confirmed herein, because Wnt3 expression, an important activator of this pathway, was similarly expressed in all dysplasia and carcinoma samples from both genotypes.…”

“…The findings on 4NQO-induced tongue carcinogenesis in Gal3+/+ and Gal3 −/− mice have previously been published elsewhere (de Faria et al, 2011).…”

“…Gal3, a protein of 31 kDa, has been strongly linked to tumorigenesis in many tissues, but its role in OSCC remains to be determined (Sant'ana et al, 2011;Takenaka et al, 2004). To shed light on this matter, our group recently published an in vivo study showing that the incidence of tongue carcinoma did not differ significantly between wild-type (Gal3+/+) and Gal3-deficient mice (Gal3−/−), indicating that Gal3 does not seem to play any role in driving oral tumor formation (de Faria et al, 2011).…”

Alterations in the immunoexpression of galectins‐1, ‐3 and ‐7 between different grades of oral epithelial dysplasia

“… showed that the absence of galectin‐3 does not directly present a role in the oral carcinogenesis after chemical treatment in mice. Despite these contradictory results, the level of galectin‐3 expression seems to depend on the type of tissue studied, a fact suggesting that specific tumor factors modulate the expression of this protein .…”

The effects of topical treatment with 5-fluorouracil on potentially malignant lesions of mice oral mucosa

“…Treatment with the carcinogen 4NQO (Sigma, St. Louis, MO, USA) followed the protocol described by Faria, Chammas, Melo et al (2011). This protocol consist in dilute the 4NQO in filtered water until it attained the concentration of 100 µg/ ml.…”