Early diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) is important. Delayed diagnosis and management of UTI can result in renal damage. Specific biomarkers are needed to allow earlier diagnosis of UTI. Therefore, we aimed to test whether serum galectin-3 can be used as a biomarker in diagnosis of UTI in childhood. Method: The study group consisted of 30 children with UTI and 30 controls. Serum galectin-3, NGAL, IL-6 and acute phase reactants were measured. Results: Serum neutrophil (p=0.01), serum

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... AL (p=0.03) and serum galectin-3 (147.5±62.1 vs. 111.3±56.8, p=0.022) were significantly higher in the patient group. Eight (26.6%) of the patients had upper UTI, and 22 (73.3%) of them had lower UTI. Serum neutrophil (p=0.001), CRP (p=0.001), IL-6 (p=0.01) and galectin-3 (185.3±60.7 vs. 133.9±58, p=0.02) were significantly higher in patients with upper UTI. There was a significant positive correlation between serum galectin-3 level and IL-6 (r=0.57, p=0.001), NGAL (r=0.68,p=0.001) and CRP (r=0.4, p=0.02). Serum galectin-3 positivity was influenced by CRP (r 2 =0.14, p=0.01), IL-6 (r²=0.5, p<0.001) and NGAL (r²=0.88, p<0.001) as well as fever (OR:7.7, p=0.04) and vomiting (OR:48.1, p=0.02). Serum galectin-3 can diagnose lower UTI at 130 pg/ml cut-off value (p=0.02).The sensitivity and negative predictive value of galectin-3 was higher in the upper UTI (87% and 93,7%, respectively). Conclusions: Serum galectin-3 can be used an alternative method for diagnosis and discriminating type of UTI