Department and Graduate Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan.
Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 114, Taiwan.
Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Feb 1;19(2):430. doi: 10.3390/ijms19020430.
Galectins are glycan-binding proteins that contain one or two carbohydrate domains and mediate multiple biological functions. By analyzing clinical tumor samples, the abnormal expression of galectins is known to be linked to the development, progression and metastasis of cancers. Galectins also have diverse functions on different immune cells that either promote inflammation or dampen T cell-mediated immune responses, depending on cognate receptors on target cells. Thus, tumor-derived galectins can have bifunctional effects on tumor and immune cells. This review focuses on the biological effects of galectin-1, galectin-3 and galectin-9 in various cancers and discusses anticancer therapies that target these molecules.
半乳糖凝集素是一种糖结合蛋白,包含一个或两个碳水化合物结构域,介导多种生物学功能。通过分析临床肿瘤样本,已知半乳糖凝集素的异常表达与癌症的发展、进展和转移有关。半乳糖凝集素在不同的免疫细胞上也具有多样化的功能,根据靶细胞上的同源受体,它们可以促进炎症或抑制 T 细胞介导的免疫反应。因此,肿瘤来源的半乳糖凝集素对半乳糖凝集素-1、半乳糖凝集素-3 和半乳糖凝集素-9 可以在各种癌症中对肿瘤细胞和免疫细胞产生双重作用。本综述重点介绍了这些分子在各种癌症中的生物学效应,并讨论了针对这些分子的抗癌治疗方法。