Analysis of Gal-4 expression in PDACs showed high expression of Gal-4 in 80% of patients without lymph node metastasis, whereas 70% of patients with lymph node metastases had low Gal-4 expression.
The promoter hypermethylation of LGALS4 (>2.51, log10 scale) revealed a positive correlation with high levels of both histological grade and tumor T category and with lymph node metastasis (all P≤0.001).
We have previously shown that galectin-4 expression is an independent predictor for lymph node metastasis and serves as an adverse prognostic indicator in patients with acinar adenocarcinoma of the lung.