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Abstract
Heart failure (HF) is a common disease and affects millions of patients worldwide. Diagnosis, risk assessment and treatment of HF are difficult and therefore there is a need for additional tools to improve clinical performance. Biomarkers may be helpful in this respect. Galectin-3 is a relatively new biomarker that has been shown to have strong associations with the development of HF. Galectin-3 plays a role in inflammation and fibrosis, which are key elements in the pathophysiology of HF. Circulating plasma or serum galectin-3 levels have strong associations with the severity of HF and may be used to prognosticate or risk-stratify HF patients. Currently, there are several commercially available assays that can measure circulating galectin-3. This article describes the role galectin-3 plays in HF and its prognostic consequences. We will summarize the technical specifications of various manual and automated galectin-3 assays, which may help in HF management.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
BG Medicine, Inc. (BGM, Waltham, MA, USA) holds certain rights with respect to the use of galectin-3 in heart failure. The University Medical Center Groningen, which employs the authors, received research grants from BGM. RA de Boer received consultancy fees from BGM and Abbott. The research of RA de Boer is supported by the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme program of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO VIDI, grant 917.13.50). RA de Boer reports having ownership interest (<5%) in Pectacea (www.pectacea.com), a company that studies natural sources of galectin-3 inhibition. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.
Key issues
Galectin-3 has been associated with inflammation and fibrosis that are key elements in the pathophysiology of heart failure (HF).
Circulating galectin-3 has a strong association with the development of HF.
Circulating galectin-3 can be measured with several commercially available assays.
Galectin-3 has a class IIB recommendation in the most recent American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for HF, as risk stratification of HF patients.
The automated versions of the measuring galectin-3, such as the ARCHITECT galectin-3 assay, allow to determine plasma and/or serum levels of galectin-3 in routine clinical care.