Galectin-3 in heart failure pathology--"another brick in the wall"?

Heart failure is a disease affecting millions of patients each year, and is responsible for burdening the world with high mortality rates. More concerns come from its numerous hospital readmissions (with an estimated number of 2.6 million per year which makes it one of the leading diseases responsible for national healthcare expenditures). Despite drastic improvement of therapies in recent years, heart failure remains a progressive disease. Thus, more attention has been given to finding potential biomarkers involved in the pathological mechanisms of this disease that would potentially lead to faster diagnosis and improved prognosis. One of the emerging biomarkers that has just recently come into the spotlight is galectin-3. It was associated in recent clinical trials with both the progression and severity of heart failure. Ventricular remodelling and myocardial fibrosis are essential for heart failure development and are linked to poor outcomes. An ever-growing body of evidence places galectin-3 as an important link between inflammation and fibrosis, which play a prominent role in cardiac remodelling.This review sums up the most relevant experimental and clinical studies about galectin-3 and its potential prognostic value in heart failure. The article also provides a better understanding of this molecule's involvement in heart failure pathology by modulating cardiac fibrosis. It also weighs whether the available data on galectin-3 are consistent enough to reduce readmissions and mortality while improving diagnosis and future therapies for heart failure, versus the possibility that it is simply"another brick in the wall?"