LGALS3 and asthma: However, both net efferocytosis % and MFI following galectin-3 addition were negatively correlated with sputum macrophage numbers in participants with asthma (Spearman r = − 0.594; p = 0.042 and Spearman r = − 0.671; p = 0.017 respectively) (Fig. 3) [see Additional file 2].