Galectin-3 is a member of a family of b-galactoside-binding animal lectins and is the only chimera type galectin. Galectin-3 consists of two structural domains: a N-terminal domain that contains a phosphorylation site and a repeated 9 amino acids sequence rich in Pro, Gly, Tyr and Glu; and a C-terminal domain that contains a carbohydrate recognition domain. In human genome galectin-3 is coded by a single gene LGALS3 which is situated on chromosome 14 and composed of six exons and five introns. Galectin-3 is localized in the cytoplasm as well as in the nucleus.