Galectin 3 Level in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome and its Relation to Severity of Coronary Artery Disease

Background: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a very common cause of hospitalizations worldwide each year. Despite Troponin is considered the gold standard in diagnosis of ACS. Several molecules have been investigated to identify predictive biomarkers of diagnosis. Among these, Galectin-3 has emerged as a promising diagnostic biomarker of (ACS). We aimed to evaluate galectin-3 levels in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and its relation to severity of coronary artery disease. Methods: Seventy two patients with ACS who underwent primarypercutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and 20 age-matched healthy controls were enrolled in our study .The severity of coronary artery disease and the burden of atherosclerosis was assessed with Gensini score and with the number of affected vessels. Galectin-3 levels were measured on admission by using ELISA with a commercially kit. Result: The mean age of the observational case control study was 55.9 ± 11.9 and 68 patients (73.9%) of the study were male. Median galectin-3 levels were significantly higher in ACS patients (20.25 ng/mL [11.9 - 39.0] vs. 8.9 ng/mL [4.6 - 24.0], P = 0.001). Patients were classified into three groups according to the number of involved vessels. Median galectin-3 levels were also significantly different among groups (one vessel: 18.9 (12 - 35.2) ng/mL, two vessels: 19 (11.9 - 35) ng/mL, three vessels 32 (12 - 39) ng/mL, P = 0.007). There was a strong correlation between galectin-3 levels and Gensini score (r = 0.500, P = 0.001). Conclusion: Galectin-3 levels were elevated in patients with ACS and there was a strong correlation between galectin-3 and severity of coronary artery disease.