Key result
Higher liver Galectin-3 expression inversely correlates with NAFLD severity, steatosis, and NASH in children.
Why the study?
The role of Galectin-3 in liver resident cells and its association with liver damage in pediatric NAFLD remains elusive.
Cross-Sectional (n=40)
No
Galectin-3 expression in liver cells shows a dual correlation with tissue damage in pediatric NAFLD, suggesting a complex role in its pathogenesis.
Suggests protective Galectin-3 role in pediatric NASH; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a complex disease ranging from steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Galectin-3 (Gal-3), which is a β-galactoside binding protein, has been associated with liver fibrosis, but its role in NAFLD remains elusive. We investigated the expression of Gal-3 in liver resident cells and its potential association with liver damage in 40 children with biopsy-proven NAFLD. We found that several liver cells expressed Gal-3. The number of total Gal-3 positive cells decreased with the severity of disease and the cells were correlated with the presence of steatosis and the diagnosis of NASH. CD68 macrophages expressed Gal-3 but the number CD68/Gal-3 positive cells was significantly reduced in patients diagnosed with steatosis and NASH. Triple CD68/CD206/Gal-3, which represented the subpopulation of M2 macrophages, were mainly present in patients without NASH, and clearly reduced in patients with steatosis and NASH. On the contrary, the number of α-smooth muscle actin (SMA)/Gal-3 positive cells increased with the severity of fibrosis in children with NAFLD. Our data demonstrated that the number of Gal-3 positive cells was associated with tissue damage in different ways, which suggests a dual role of this protein in the pathogenesis of pediatric NAFLD, even if the role of Gal-3 deserves further studies.
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Oliveira et al. (2019) conducted a cross-sectional in Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (n=40). Galectin-3 (Gal-3) expression in liver cells vs. Severity of NAFLD (steatosis, NASH, fibrosis) was evaluated on Correlation between the number of Gal-3 positive cells and NAFLD activity score (NAS) (r = -0.57, p=<0.001). The number of liver-resident cells expressing Galectin-3 was inversely correlated with the NAFLD activity score (r = -0.57, p < 0.001), presence of steatosis, and diagnosis of NASH in children.
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