Galectin-3 level in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients and its relationship with response to antifibrotic treatment.

OBJECT

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic lung disease with characterized by progressive fibrosis. Galectin-3(Gal-3) is a B-galactoside binding lectin plays a central role in inflammation and fibrosis. In our study, we aimed to define levels of serum galectin-3 protein in IPF patients by comparing them with healthy subjects. We also aimed to show that galectin-3 concentrations can be used as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in the serum of IPF patients and that the use of galectin-3 inhibitors in combination with antifibrotic treatments may be useful in the therapeutic management of fibrosis.

METHODS

44 patients with IPF and 35 control patients who were followed up in our outpatient clinic between 2016 and 2022 were evaluated, anamnesis, spirometric measurements and galectin-3 results were recorded. Patients were grouped according to their antifibrotic treatment.

RESULTS

The mean galectin-3 level in the patient group was 8.4 ng/ml and in the control group was 8.2 ng/ml. Serum levels were 8.9 ng/ml in pirfenidone users and 8.2 ng/ml in nintedanib users. Gal-3 was found to be higher in patients taking pirfenidone compared to nintedanib, but there was no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Galectin-3 levels were found to be slightly higher in IPF patients compared to healthy subjects. In addition, gal-3 levels decreased as the follow-up period increased in IPF patients in our study. Considering that the patients were receiving pirfenidone or nintedanib treatment during the follow-up period, it may be possible that galectin-3 levels decreased as exposure to these drugs increased. Further studies are needed to clarify these mechanisms.