School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Front Immunol. 2023 Feb 23;14:1127247. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1127247. eCollection 2023.
Galectins are an eleven-member class of lectins in humans that function as immune response mediators and aberrancies in their expression are commonly associated with immunological diseases. Several studies have focused on galectins as they may represent an important biomarker and a therapeutic target in the fight against COVID-19. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the usefulness of clinical assessment of circulating galectin levels in patients with COVID-19.
International databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase were systematically used as data sources for our analyses. The random-effect model was implemented to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD) and a 95% confidence interval (CI).
A total of 18 studies, comprising 2,765 individuals, were identified and used in our analyses. We found that Gal-3 is the most widely investigated galectin in COVID-19. Three studies reported significantly higher Gal-1 levels in COVID-19 patients. Meta-analysis revealed that patients with COVID-19 had statistically higher levels of Gal-3 compared with healthy controls (SMD 0.53, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.96, P=0.02). However, there was no significant difference between severe and non-severe cases (SMD 0.45, 95% CI -0.17 to 1.07, P=0.15). While one study supports lower levels of Gal-8 in COVID-19, Gal-9 was measured to be higher in patients and more severe cases.
Our study supports Gal-3 as a valuable non-invasive biomarker for the diagnosis and/or prognosis of COVID-19. Moreover, based on the evidence provided here, more studies are needed to confirm a similar diagnostic and prognostic role for Gal-1, -8, and -9.
半乳糖凝集素是人类中一个由 11 个成员组成的凝集素家族，它们作为免疫反应介质发挥作用，其表达异常通常与免疫性疾病有关。有几项研究集中在半乳糖凝集素上，因为它们可能是对抗 COVID-19 的重要生物标志物和治疗靶点。本系统评价和荟萃分析研究了循环半乳糖凝集素水平在 COVID-19 患者中的临床评估的有用性。
我们系统地使用国际数据库，包括 PubMed、Scopus、Web of Science 和 Embase，作为我们分析的数据来源。我们采用随机效应模型来计算标准化均数差（SMD）和 95%置信区间（CI）。
共纳入了 18 项研究，包含 2765 人，用于我们的分析。我们发现 Gal-3 是 COVID-19 中研究最多的半乳糖凝集素。有三项研究报告 COVID-19 患者的 Gal-1 水平显著升高。荟萃分析显示，COVID-19 患者的 Gal-3 水平明显高于健康对照组（SMD 0.53，95%CI 0.10 至 0.96，P=0.02）。然而，严重病例和非严重病例之间无显著差异（SMD 0.45，95%CI -0.17 至 1.07，P=0.15）。虽然有一项研究支持 COVID-19 患者 Gal-8 水平较低，但 Gal-9 水平在患者中更高，且在更严重的病例中更高。
我们的研究支持 Gal-3 作为 COVID-19 诊断和/或预后的有价值的非侵入性生物标志物。此外，根据这里提供的证据，需要更多的研究来证实 Gal-1、-8 和 -9 具有类似的诊断和预后作用。
