Diagnostic value of tear Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 in keratoconus: a prospective case-control study.
6 affiliations
- 1Coordination Office of Microbiology Reference Laboratories and Biological Products Department, Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey, Sağlık Mah. Adnan Saygun Cad. No: 55, E Blok, Ground Floor, Sıhhiye, Ankara, 06340, Türkiye. [email protected].
- 2Department of Physiology, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. [email protected].
- 3Department of Ophthalmology, Ulucanlar Eye Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey.
- 4Department of Biochemistry, Karadeniz Eregli State Hospital, Zonguldak, Turkey.
- 5Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, Ankara Yildirim Beyazit University, Ankara, Türkiye.
- 6Department of Physiology, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
Abstract
Background
This study aims to evaluate tear Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 levels in patients with keratoconus and healthy controls, assess their diagnostic performance, and investigate their associations with corneal tomography parameters.Methods
This prospective case-control study included 40 eyes of 40 patients with keratoconus and 33 eyes of 33 healthy controls. All participants underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination and corneal tomographic assessment using a Scheimpflug imaging system. Tear samples were collected using Schirmer strips, and Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the diagnostic performance of Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 to discriminate between keratoconus and healthy controls, and correlation analyses were performed to explore the relationships between galectin levels and corneal tomographic parameters.Results
The keratoconus and control groups were comparable in terms of age, sex distribution, and tear sample volume (all p > 0.05). Tear Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 levels were significantly higher in the keratoconus group than in controls (1033 ± 570 vs. 617 ± 172 pg/mL, p = 0.006; and 16.4 ± 5.4 vs. 7.1 ± 4.7 ng/mL, p < 0.001, respectively). ROC analysis demonstrated AUC values of 0.687 for Galectin-1 and 0.899 for Galectin-3. At a cut-off value of 10.93 ng/mL, Galectin-3 showed a sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 78.8% for discriminating keratoconus from healthy controls. When correlation analyses were performed exclusively within the keratoconus group, no significant correlations were observed between galectin levels and corneal tomographic parameters.Conclusion
Tear Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 levels were significantly elevated in patients with keratoconus compared with healthy controls. Among the two galectins, Galectin-3 demonstrated superior diagnostic performance, supporting further investigation of Galectin-3 as a potential biomarker for keratoconus.
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BibTeX
@article{kosekahya2026diagnostic,
title = {{Diagnostic value of tear Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 in keratoconus: a prospective case-control study.}},
author = {Ali Kosekahya and Pinar Kosekahya and Huseyin Bugra Turk and Gamze Avcioglu and Özcan Erel and Aysen Erdem},
journal = {BMC ophthalmology},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1186/s12886-026-05192-y},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958129},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Diagnostic value of tear Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 in keratoconus: a prospective case-control study.
AU - Ali Kosekahya
AU - Pinar Kosekahya
AU - Huseyin Bugra Turk
AU - Gamze Avcioglu
AU - Özcan Erel
AU - Aysen Erdem
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/03
JO - BMC ophthalmology
DO - 10.1186/s12886-026-05192-y
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42958129
AB - Background This study aims to evaluate tear Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 levels in patients with keratoconus and healthy controls, assess their diagnostic performance, and investigate their associations with corneal tomography parameters.Methods This prospective case-control study included 40 eyes of 40 patients with keratoconus and 33 eyes of 33 healthy controls. All participants underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination and corneal tomographic assessment using a Scheimpflug imaging system. Tear samples were collected using Schirmer strips, and Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the diagnostic performance of Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 to discriminate between keratoconus and healthy controls, and correlation analyses were performed to explore the relationships between galectin levels and corneal tomographic parameters.Results The keratoconus and control groups were comparable in terms of age, sex distribution, and tear sample volume (all p > 0.05). Tear Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 levels were significantly higher in the keratoconus group than in controls (1033 ± 570 vs. 617 ± 172 pg/mL, p = 0.006; and 16.4 ± 5.4 vs. 7.1 ± 4.7 ng/mL, p < 0.001, respectively). ROC analysis demonstrated AUC values of 0.687 for Galectin-1 and 0.899 for Galectin-3. At a cut-off value of 10.93 ng/mL, Galectin-3 showed a sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 78.8% for discriminating keratoconus from healthy controls. When correlation analyses were performed exclusively within the keratoconus group, no significant correlations were observed between galectin levels and corneal tomographic parameters.Conclusion Tear Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 levels were significantly elevated in patients with keratoconus compared with healthy controls. Among the two galectins, Galectin-3 demonstrated superior diagnostic performance, supporting further investigation of Galectin-3 as a potential biomarker for keratoconus.
SN - 1471-2415
ER -