Expression of galectin-3 correlates with apoptosis in pituitary adenoma cells

Objective To investigate the expressions of Galectin-3 （Gal-3）, Bcl-2 and Bax in human pituitary adenomas, and to explore the interrelation among them. Methods RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were applied to detect the mRNA and protein expressions of Gal-3, Bcl-2 and Bax in surgically excised human pituitary adenoma tissues, including invasive and non-invasive pituitary adenomas, and the correlation analysis was performed. Results The Gal-3 and Bcl-2 expressions in the invasive pituitary group were significantly higher than those in the non-invasive group, and the expression of Bax had no significant difference between the two groups. Pearson＇s correlation analyses showed that the Gal-3 expression was posi- tively correlated with Bcl-2, but was not correlated with Bax, which was inversely correlated with expression of Bcl-2. Conclusion Gal-3 may function through a cell death inhibition pathway involving Bcl-2 to enhance cell proliferation, which result in the invasive growth of pituitary adenoma. These results indicate that Gal-3 has an important role in pituitary tumor cell proliferation and may serves as a possible therapeutic target in treatment of pituitary tumors.