As well as having a prominent role in chronic inflammation, galectin-3 has been implicated in the development of several cancers, including high fatality cancers such as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) [4, 5], where galectin-3 has been shown to down-regulate T cell function and promote M2 tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) activation [6–8]. Here, LGALS3 is linked to cancer.