The Expression of Galectin-1 in Vulvar Neoplasia

Vulvar cancer contributes to about 5% of all gynaecological cancers. Galectin-1, a member of an ubiquitous expressed beta-galactoside-binding family that comprises over 140 members to date, has been shown to be involved in many physiological and pathological processes, such as tumour progression, by promoting cancer cell invasion and metastasis, in apoptosis, embryogenesis and immunobiology. As the result of these findings, galectin-1 has been described as a potential marker for tumour progression in some malignancies. In this study, the expression pattern of galectin-1 was determined in 73 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded vulvar tissues by a standard immunohistochemical method: 12 benign vulvar specimen, 41 vulvar intraepithelial lesions (VIN), according to their differentiation were subdivided into VIN I, II and III and 20 invasive squamous cell carcinomas (ISCC). The immunohistochemical analyses showed that the intensity of galectin-1 expression on stromal cells next to the neoplastic cells steadily increased according to the pathological grade: benign vulvar tissue <VIN I<VIN II<VIN II<VIN III<ISCC (p<0.0001). In epithelial cells, negative or weak reactivity for galectin-1 was observed. These findings indicate that the galectin-1 expression on stromal cells increases with the histopathological grade of vulvar tissues, and it can be suggested that these changes might be associated with the progression of vulvar neoplasia.