Examination of the regulation of galectin-3 expression in cancer

Abstract

Galectin-3, a member of a β-galactoside-binding protein family, is involved in normal growth development as well as cancer progression and metastasis, but the detailed mechanisms of its functions or its transcriptional regulations are not well understood. Besides, several regulatory elements such as GC box, CRE motif, AP-1 site, and NF-κB sites, the promoter of galectin-3 gene (LGALS3) contains several CpG islands that can be methylated during tumorigenesis of prostate leading to the gene silencing. Here we describe protocols for identification of galectin-3 DNA methylation, suppression of DNA methyltransferases to reactivate galectin-3 expression, and development of methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR) to assess galectin-3 expression in various biological specimens such as tissue, serum, and urine samples.