These results, together with the results demonstrated above with 1) the use of exogenous galectin-3 (Figs. 1 and 2), lactose and asialofetuin and (Fig. 3E, F) and conditioned medium of HT29-N and HT29-I (Fig. 5A–F), strongly suggest that galectin-3 expression and secretion by colon cancer cells promote cathepsin-B and MMP-13 secretion, autocrinely or paracrinely, and this effect of galectin-3 is predominately mediated through the extracellular action of galectin-3. Here, CTSB is linked to colonic neoplasm.