Clinical Utility of Circulating Galectin-3 as A Biomarker in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37287/ijghr.v9i1.2880Keywords:
biomarkers, crohn disease, galectin 3, inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitisAbstract
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) requires accurate diagnosis and ongoing activity assessment, yet endoscopy and fecal calprotectin have limitations. Circulating Galectin-3 has emerged as a candidate serum biomarker for IBD, but studies report inconsistent diagnostic performance and activity associations. To systematically review and synthesize the diagnostic performance and clinical utility of circulating Galectin-3 as a biomarker in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, including its association with disease activity. A systematic review and meta-analysis followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines across five databases. Risk of bias was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 (QUADAS-2) tool. Pooled estimates for circulating Galectin-3 concentrations in patients with IBD versus healthy controls were calculated as standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using a fixed-effect inverse-variance model. Six cross-sectional studies were included. Most studies reported significantly higher circulating Galectin-3 levels in patients with IBD than in healthy controls, although findings regarding disease activity were inconsistent. Meta-analysis demonstrated significantly elevated circulating Galectin-3 in both Crohn's disease (CD) (SMD = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.44–1.18; p < 0.0001) and ulcerative colitis (UC) (SMD = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.26–0.97; p = 0.0006), with no observed statistical heterogeneity (I² = 0%). Diagnostic accuracy varied considerably across studies, with sensitivity ranging from 53% to 100% and specificity from 47% to 97%. This variability likely reflects differences in assay methods, cut-off values, patient characteristics, and study design. These findings suggest Galectin-3 may better serve as a diagnostic biomarker than as a marker of disease activity. Circulating Galectin-3 shows promise as a biomarker for the diagnosis of IBD. However, evidence regarding its utility for disease activity assessment and treatment monitoring remains inconsistent.
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