In this issue, we will focus on the physiological functions of galectin-7 in epithelia and present the alterations of galectin-7 expression in carcinomas with the aim to describe its possible functions in tumour progression.
However, in some cases, such as breast cancer and lymphoma, its high expression level correlates with aggressive subtypes of cancer, suggesting that galectin-7 may have a dual role in cancer progression.
Taken together, our data provide an explanation to the observed high galectin-7 expression levels in cancer cells and suggest that galectin-7 could be part of a common pathway used by mutant p53 to promote cancer progression.
In this article, we review the data concerning expression and roles of galectin-7 in cancer and propose a comprehensive view of its contribution during cancer progression.