Consistent with this observation, serum levels of galectine-3—a beta-galactosidase binding protein that has been shown to be associated with cardiac fibrosis and also with mortality in acute and chronic heart failure (50, 51)—correlated well with fibrosis extent and were lower at 8-weeks post-MI in animals treated with hUC-MSC, although the difference was not statistically significant. Here, LGALS3 is linked to congestive heart failure.