GAL and colorectal carcinoma: Stage II CRC patients who presented with high expression levels of GAL had significantly poorer prognosis than those with low expression levels of GAL [5-year overall survival: hazard ratio (HR), 7.31; 95% confidence interval (CI), 2.38–24.04; P<0.001; 5-year recurrence-free survival: HR, 3.99; 95% CI, 1.61–9.44; P=0.004], but there was no association between GAL expression and survival in stage III CRC patients.