Overexpression of galectin-4 in placentas of women with gestational diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: Galectins are known for their immunomodulatory functions in placentas. They are associated with pregnancy disorders such as preeclampsia, HELLP-Syndrome and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). In addition, galectins seem to be overexpressed in placentas of women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). STUDY DESIGN: The collective consisted of 40 women diagnosed with GDM and 40 healthy expectant mothers. The expression of Gal-4 was investigated in syncytiotrophoblast (SCT), representing the fetal part of the placenta, and decidual tissues, representing the maternal part of the placenta, by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence double staining. Expression levels were evaluated using the immunoreactive score (IRS). RESULTS: Nuclear IRS of Gal-4 is significantly higher in SCT cells of placentas of expectant mothers diagnosed with GDM. Overexpression of Gal-4 observed in the decidua of women with GDM by significant higher nuclear and cytoplasmatic IRS of Gal-4. Multivariate regression showed that Gal-4 is significantly overexpressed in the nucleus of SCTs and cytoplasm of decidual cells of placentas with GDM. GDM could be identified as a significant predictor for both cases. CONCLUSION: The results of this study provide further evidence for the involvement of galectins in the processes of chronic inflammation throughout a pregnancy with GDM. These findings are also in line with the known overexpression of galectin-1 in placental tissues of GDM women. Further evaluation of the role of galectins in this process is warranted.

The Prognostic Impact of Retinoid X Receptor and Thyroid Hormone Receptor alpha in Unifocal vs. Multifocal/Multicentric Breast Cancer.

The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of the steroid hormone receptor expression, counting the retinoid X receptor (RXR) and thyroid hormone receptors (THRs), on the two different breast cancer (BC) entities: multifocal/multicentric versus unifocal. The overall and disease-free survival were considered as the prognosis determining aspects and analyzed by uni- and multi-variate analysis. Furthermore, histopathological grading and TNM staging (T = tumor size, N = lymph node involvement, M = distant metastasis) were examined in relation to RXR and THRs expression. A retrospective statistical analysis was carried out on survival-related events in a series of 319 sporadic BC patients treated at the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the Ludwig-Maximillian's University in Munich between 2000 and 2002. The expression of RXR and THRs, including its two major isoforms THRα1 and THRα2, was analyzed by immunohistochemistry and showed to have a significant correlation for both BC entities in regard to survival analysis. Patients with multifocal/multicentric BC were exposed to a significantly worse disease-free survival (DFS) when expressing RXR. Patients with unifocal BC showed a significantly worse DFS when expressing THRα1. In contrast, a statistically significant positive association between THRα2 expression and enhanced DFS in multifocal/multicentric BC was shown. Especially the RXR expression in multifocal/multicentric BC was found to play a remarkably contradictory role for BC prognosis. The findings imply the need for a critical review of possible molecular therapies targeting steroid hormone receptors in BC treatment. Our results strengthen the need to further investigate the behavior of the nuclear receptor family, especially in relation to BC focality.