GAL and thyroid gland carcinoma: More recently, Arcolia et al. investigated gal-1 and gal-3 immunohistochemical expression in normal thyroid tissues, benign thyroid lesions and thyroid cancers, and reported that both galectin cytoplasmic immunostainings were significantly higher in cancer cells of malignant thyroid lesions compared to epithelial cells in benign lesions as well as in normal tissues [14].