Galectin-3: The all-purpose test you've never heard of

[stevesayshi]

I got interested in this topic after testing nearly off the charts for the substance in the subject line. It is part of the NT-proBNP panel they give to heart attack patients (it was FDA approved very recently, around 2010 I believe). It was part of my intake testing at an integrative center I went to not long before my autonomic nervous system went insane. The doctor was only familiar with its use to predict outcomes in heart disease, unfortunately, but it is involved in so much more mayhem!

Basically, it's a carbohydrate-binding protein that signals your body to deposit fibrin. This leads to scarring of internal organs and, perhaps more interesting to this community, it helps viruses and other pathogens evade the immune system!

Elevated levels are tied to poor outcomes in all circumstances that I've seen. Here are some research links to its role in:

Cardiac fibrosis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22016505/
Pulmonary fibrosis
http://ai.jsaweb.jp/fulltext/056010057/056010057_index.html
Kidney failure
http://ajp.amjpathol.org/article/S0002-9440(10)61796-8/abstract
Hepatic fibrosis
http://m.pnas.org/content/103/13/5060

And the infectious stuff!
Galectin-3 helps HSV-1 hide in the nervous system
http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3381633/
Helps HIV to infect cells
http://pag.ias2013.org/Abstracts.aspx?AID=2973

Did I mention it helps cancer spread?
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:GLYC.0000014084.01324.15

But it's not all bad. It kills candida!
http://m.jimmunol.org/content/177/7/4718.short

Modified citrus pectin is supposed to be able to lower it but from the one set of hard data I saw it took feeding rats a 2% solution over several weeks to lower it by something like a third. I guess that corresponds to a human dose of 10 - 50 g per day depending on how you scale it. The stuff is pretty expensive.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0018683

I would be quite curious to see if this was elevated in people with chronic viral infections. The test was around $180 if I recall, though it was covered as part of the integrative package. Insurance won't cover it unless you have a heart attack.

Anyway hope this is of interest to some people!

P.S. My level was 50 and the 97.5th percentile was at 25. I checked the patent application and the highest level they recorded was 96 in 1200 or so people.

 

[adreno]

Fibrinolytic enzymes?

 

[stevesayshi]

Fibrinolytic enzymes?

Yes, those may help. I am not sure if nattokinase really crosses the intestinal lining, but I guess its digested fractions can and do still trigger plasminogen. Or one could cut to the chase and do low dose heparin.

It is interesting that this relates to David Berg's hypercoagulation hypothesis, though from what I have seen more recently that protocol only helps a small fraction of PWM.

 

[eyera]

I got interested in this topic after testing nearly off the charts for the substance in the subject line. It is part of the NT-proBNP panel they give to heart attack patients (it was FDA approved very recently, around 2010 I believe). It was part of my intake testing at an integrative center I went to not long before my autonomic nervous system went insane. The doctor was only familiar with its use to predict outcomes in heart disease, unfortunately, but it is involved in so much more mayhem!

Basically, it's a carbohydrate-binding protein that signals your body to deposit fibrin. This leads to scarring of internal organs and, perhaps more interesting to this community, it helps viruses and other pathogens evade the immune system!

Elevated levels are tied to poor outcomes in all circumstances that I've seen. Here are some research links to its role in:

Cardiac fibrosis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22016505/
Pulmonary fibrosis
http://ai.jsaweb.jp/fulltext/056010057/056010057_index.html
Kidney failure
http://ajp.amjpathol.org/article/S0002-9440(10)61796-8/abstract
Hepatic fibrosis
http://m.pnas.org/content/103/13/5060

And the infectious stuff!
Galectin-3 helps HSV-1 hide in the nervous system
http://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3381633/
Helps HIV to infect cells
http://pag.ias2013.org/Abstracts.aspx?AID=2973

Did I mention it helps cancer spread?
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:GLYC.0000014084.01324.15

But it's not all bad. It kills candida!
http://m.jimmunol.org/content/177/7/4718.short

Modified citrus pectin is supposed to be able to lower it but from the one set of hard data I saw it took feeding rats a 2% solution over several weeks to lower it by something like a third. I guess that corresponds to a human dose of 10 - 50 g per day depending on how you scale it. The stuff is pretty expensive.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0018683

I would be quite curious to see if this was elevated in people with chronic viral infections. The test was around $180 if I recall, though it was covered as part of the integrative package. Insurance won't cover it unless you have a heart attack.

Anyway hope this is of interest to some people!

P.S. My level was 50 and the 97.5th percentile was at 25. I checked the patent application and the highest level they recorded was 96 in 1200 or so people.

I am very interested in any new information you may have since your posting on galectin 3. I would also like to see the patent application. I suspect many normals have high levels without obvious cause. My level ranges between 30-60 over 3 years. Up And down.

 

[Jadzhia]

Resurrecting this as I've been listening to various speakers in the MCAS and histamine intolerance summit over the last couple of days. There's a Dr Isaac Eliaz who does a lot of research into galectin-3 and it really caught my attention. I made some notes from his talk:

Galectin-3 is a carbohydrate-binding protein. It attaches to different ligands - to hyperviscosity ligands, to sticky ligands, to inflammatory ligands, to ligands that affect the immune system, to growth factors, to repair molecules.

It’s expressed within minutes when we have an injury or stress in the body, and goes to the area of trouble and delivers this compound that produces an inflammatory response (because that’s how the body repairs).

A mast cell response is a danger response. A little bit of galectin-3 creates an ongoing response. So first, when a galectin-3 gets activated it produces a pentanol of five galectin-3 that then attach to each other, and creates a lattice formation, a coating. So galectin-3 is the skeleton of the biofilm. It’s in the skeleton of the arteriosclerotic plaque. It builds a microenvironment where cancer can grow, where there’s not enough oxygen, where metals can hide.

When you have galectin-3 in the extracellular space it activates microphages, it also blocks insulin receptors. The cell goes into survival mode. AMPK doesn’t work any more. mTORC1 gets activated and the cell has a sense of no oxygen. Hypoxia inducing factor goes up and it activates PDK (pyruvate kinase) which blocks the entrance of pyruvate into the mitochondria. You get mitochondrial dysfunction - the basis of every disease.

The first step of blocking galectin-3 with modified citrus pectin, with PectoSol is a foundation step for MCAS at whatever dose you can tolerate. Ideally you go up to 15 grams daily, but this is what allows every treatment to work better.

PectoSol can regulate the inflammatory response.

Modified citrus pectin is very low molecular weight. Citrus pectin is a very large chain of galacturonic acid. It’s esterified (so not charged). It’s a good binder of cholesterol. It also has a high component of rhamnogalacturonan-2 (the immune component in mistletoe)

So Pectasol is something that's been developed by Eliaz and he uses it to treat and eradicate galectin-3 lattices. I'm intrigued to hear more, he is giving a talk on cancer and galectin-3 today.

Link to MCAS and Histamine Intolerance Summit