The Role of Galectin-3 in Predicting Congenital Heart Disease Outcome: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a novel pro-fibrotic biomarker that can predict both right and left cardiac dysfunction caused by various cardiovascular conditions. Its expression seems to be progressively altered with evolving cardiac remodeling processes, even before the onset of heart failure. Hence, Gal-3 has been found to be an individual predictor of acute and chronic heart failure or to serve as part of an integrated biomarker panel that can foresee adverse cardiac outcomes. In congenital heart disease (CHD), Gal-3 correlates with cardiac mortality and complications in both children and adults and is proposed as a therapeutic target in order to reverse the activation of pro-fibrosis pathways that lead to heart failure. Positive associations between serum Gal-3 levels, post-operatory hospitalization rates, complications and ventricular dysfunction have also been reported within studies conducted on patients with CHD who underwent corrective surgery. Thus, this review tried to address the potential utility of Gal-3 in patients with CHD and particularly in those who undergo corrective surgery. The heterogeneity of the literature data and the lack of validation of the results obtained by the current studies on larger cohorts cannot be neglected, though. Further longitudinal research is required to establish how Gal-3 can relate to long-term outcomes in pediatric CHD.

Correlation Between Invariable Blood Proteins and Heart Rate Variability in Long-Duration Space Flights

“…Similarly, the levels of LGALS3 and ST2 independently correlated with the degree of brosis in the left atrium (diagnosed via MRI) [28]. Moreover, as shown previously, the level of LGALS3 correlated with a large number of cardiovascular risk factors, and could bind to the von Willebrand factor, thus participating in the modulation of thrombosis in its early phase [29].…”