LGALS8 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: There were no correlations between galectin-8 and lung function and smoking history (Table 3), but it was observed that COPD patients who suffered from frequent acute exacerbations (2 or more/year) had significantly higher levels of galectin-8 in their serum (383.8 ± 248.3 pg/ml) compared to healthy volunteers (209.1 ± 120.8 pg/ml), and also when compared to COPD patients with infrequent exacerbations (176.2 ± 100.0 pg/ml) (Fig. 5c).