Fig. 2

Galectin-3 (gal3) expression is intertwined with an epithelial phenotype. a Western blot on Gal3 in the breast cancer cell lines GI-101A, GI-LM2, GI-LM2G, and GI-LM2C. b Surface Gal3 expression of spheres was detected by flow cytometry. IgG control is shown in black, Gal3 expression of GI-101A (grey, left panel), Gal3 expression of GI-LM2C (red, middle panel), and Gal3 expression of GI-LM2G (green, right panel). c Bright field pictures of adherent cells and mammosphere cultures of breast cancer cells used in (a). d Western blot on EMT markers (E-cadherin, cytokeratin-18 (CK18), vimentin) in breast cancer cells used in (a). The same blot is used as in (a). e Flow cytometry on the cancer stem cell markers CD24, CD44, EpCAM, and Gal3 of parental breast cancer cells. The upper panel shows the typically analyzed CD24^neg/CD44^pos CSCs and the lower panel displays EpCAM^neg/Gal3^neg populations out of the CD24^neg/CD44^pos CSC pool