expression of galectins 1, 3 and 9 in normal oral epithelium, oral squamous papilloma, and oral squamous cell carcinoma

back ground: the aim of this study was to characterize the immunohistochemical expression of galectin 1, 3, and 9 in normal oral epithelium, oral squamous papilloma, and oral squamous cell carcinoma. materials and methods: immunohistochemical staining for galectins 1, 3, and 9 was evaluated in 8 samples of normal oral squamous epithelium, 15 samples of oral squamous papilloma, and 41 samples of oral squamous cell carcinoma. immunohistochemical data were assessed by kruskal- wallis non-parametric test followed by dunn’s test. for all analyzes, it was adopted the value of p <0.05 for statistical signifi cance. results: signifi cant differences were found in galectin- 3 expression when comparing ordinary mucosa and oral squamous papilloma with the oral squamous cell carcinoma samples. conclusion: these fi ndings indicate that galectin-3 is closely involved in malignant transformation of oral mucosa cells. key words: gale ctin-1, galectin-3, galectin-9, oral squamous cell carcinoma, oral squamous papilloma