The Detection of Galectin-1 in Head and Neck Cancer

Dhanya K. Nambiar, PhD, Stanford University, discusses the detection of Galectin-1 for patients with head and neck cancer.

Galectin-1 can be detected in patient blood samples, Nambiar explains. Patients with head and neck cancer who are treated with radiation demonstrate higher levels of Galectin-1.

If one correlates the Galectin-1 level with the number of T cells in the blood, they are shown to decrease if the patient has received radiation.