During pregnancy, the LGALS13 gene helps the placenta support blood flow and communicate with the pregnant person’s immune system. This gene plays an important role in helping the placenta attach and adapt as the baby grows. If LGALS13 does not work well, pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and a baby growing smaller than expected may be more likely. LGALS13 is mainly known in pregnancy research rather than in popular culture.
What is a gene?
Genes are stretches of DNA that hold instructions your cells use to make molecules or regulate processes throughout the body. In some cases, a gene carries the information needed to produce proteins, which are the parts of cells that do much of the work. Other genes are used mainly to guide when certain processes happen, where they happen, and how active they are. Taken together, genes affect how your body grows and works, and they can also influence how you respond to food, stress, or medicines. For a deeper look at this topic, you can read more in the LearnHub.
Overview
LGALS13Gene function
What if the gene works
The LGALS13 gene makes galectin-13, a protein mainly active in the placenta during pregnancy. It helps the placenta interact with the mother’s immune system and supports healthy blood vessel changes and blood flow.
Risk
What if the gene does not work
Changes in the LGALS13 gene can range from milder to more severe and may lower or disrupt placental galectin-13 production. This can alter signaling between placental cells, maternal immune cells, and nearby blood vessels.
Treatment
What does that mean for your treatment
No treatment or management approach based specifically on the LGALS13 gene is currently established in clinical guidelines. The LGALS13 gene is being studied mainly as a pregnancy biomarker, especially for placental conditions such as preeclampsia, rather than as a target that currently changes drug choice.
Gene function
What if the gene works
During pregnancy, your body uses the LGALS13 gene to make a placenta protein that helps the placenta communicate with nearby tissues. It is most active in the placenta and works by binding to certain sugars on cell surfaces. This helps explain the LGALS13 gene's role in normal placenta function during pregnancy.
The LGALS13 gene provides instructions for galectin-13, a protein that attaches to certain sugar patterns on cell surfaces and nearby proteins. This sugar binding helps cells recognize and respond to local signals in the placenta.
Galectin-13 is released by outer placental tissue into the nearby space and the bloodstream. This supports communication between the placenta and the lining of the uterus during pregnancy.
Near the placenta, galectin-13 helps shape a more tolerant immune environment. This supports the normal day to day balance between placental tissue and immune cells in the uterus.
What is a variant?
A genetic variant is a minor difference in the DNA sequence of a gene. These differences are common and help create the usual range of human diversity, including differences in appearance, metabolism, and the way the body responds to environmental influences. Many variants do not lead to any noticeable effect and simply represent natural genetic variation. In some cases, though, a variant can change how a gene functions more significantly and may contribute to, or cause, a genetic condition.
Genetic variants
What if the gene does not work
Variants in the LGALS13 gene affect protein structure and stability in placental cells by reducing how much galectin-13 is made, altering how it folds into shape, or weakening the part that binds nearby cell surfaces. Some variants are milder and only partly reduce protein activity. More severe variants can stop the protein early or make it so unstable that the cell breaks it down soon after it is made.
How variants are linked to conditions
Current evidence on how LGALS13 gene variants are linked to conditions is still developing, and the LGALS13 gene does not yet have a broadly confirmed link to a specific health condition. Anyone with a confirmed LGALS13-related diagnosis should rely on guidance from their doctor or genetic counselor rather than general information.
A variant is not necessarily a diagnosis
Genetic variants are a routine part of human biology and are widely seen in the general population. Most do not have a direct effect on health and simply reflect natural human diversity. For many genes, carrying a variant associated with a condition suggests a possible link rather than a certain diagnosis, especially when several genes and environmental factors play a role. In some situations, though, a single well-characterized variant in a specific gene is enough to confirm a diagnosis.
Are there things that can increase or change my risk?
There is not yet broadly confirmed evidence on specific factors that increase or reduce risk related to the LGALS13 gene itself. Changes in this gene have been studied most in relation to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia, but overall risk also depends on many other genetic, health, and pregnancy-related factors.
Inheritance of LGALS13 variants
For anyone trying to understand how LGALS13 gene variants are inherited, there is not yet a broadly confirmed Mendelian inheritance pattern tied to a specific LGALS13 related condition. Changes in the LGALS13 gene have mainly been studied as possible risk factors in pregnancy outcomes rather than as a clear single gene cause passed through families in a defined dominant or recessive way. The LGALS13 gene is located on chromosome 19, which is an autosome, so each person inherits one copy from each parent.
What does my LGALS13 result mean for my family?
There is not yet a broadly confirmed family inheritance pattern tied to a specific LGALS13-related condition in the way seen with single-gene conditions. A change in LGALS13 may be part of a bigger picture rather than a clear answer about risk for relatives, so family meaning depends on the exact result and the health concern being evaluated.
Genetic information
Genetic testing
How you find out about variants
LGALS13 genetic testing looks for DNA variants by reading the LGALS13 gene in a blood, saliva, or cheek swab sample. The lab compares your sequence with the usual reference and reports whether a variant was found, often classifying it as benign, uncertain, or clinically relevant.
When should I consider getting a genetic test?
There is not yet a broadly established, LGALS13-specific reason for genetic testing in routine care. Decisions about testing are usually based on your personal and family history, especially if there have been serious pregnancy complications, and are best made with a doctor or genetic counselor.
A genetic result is only one part of your health story
A genetic result can provide valuable insight, but how much it reveals depends on the condition and the specific type of variant. Many factors also shape how the body works over time, including lifestyle, environment, age, and medical history. For some conditions, especially those influenced by many genes, genetic information provides context rather than certainty and is most useful when viewed alongside other parts of care. In other situations, a genetic result can offer a clear answer. In areas like medication response, genetic results can also help put individual experiences into context.
Pharmacogenetics
How variants shape your response to medicine
Genetic variation can affect how your body responds to medicines. Some people break down a medication more slowly or more quickly than others, which can change how strongly it works or how likely side effects are. This kind of difference is common and helps explain why the same treatment can feel very effective for one person but less helpful or harder to tolerate for another.
What is Pharmacogenetics?
Pharmacogenetics examines the way genetic differences affect a person’s response to medicines. It focuses on patterns between genes and drugs to help explain why the same treatment can work differently in different people. For many medications, genes can influence both how the body processes a drug and how strong its effects are. This information can support treatment decisions that are more informed and more individualized. To explore this topic in greater detail, you can learn more in the LearnHub.
Drugs influenced by the LGALS13 gene
When should I seek medical advice?
There is not yet a broadly confirmed role for this gene in predicting how medicines will work, so questions about symptoms, treatment choices, or side effects are best discussed with your doctor or pharmacist.
History
LGALS13 entered the medical literature when researchers studying the human placenta identified a distinctive protein later called placental protein 13, or PP13. Initially understood only through a placental protein, later recognized as tied to a specific gene, it was placed within the galectin family as genetic mapping improved. In the 2000s, interest in the LGALS13 gene grew as studies linked altered PP13 levels with pregnancy complications, especially preeclampsia. From these first observations, research expanded steadily, helping establish LGALS13 as part of the specialized group of genes active in the placenta. Its history is mainly rooted in pregnancy research rather than public attention. Today, the LGALS13 gene is best known in obstetric genetics and placental biology.