Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection causes a myriad of diseases from mild hand-foot-and-mouth disease or herpangina to fatal brain stem encephalitis complicated with pulmonary edema. Several severe EV71 endemics have occurred in Asia-Pacific region, including Taiwan, and have become a serious threat to children's health. EV71 infection is initiated by the attachment of the virion to the target cell...

AIMS AND BACKGROUND The increased expression of galectin-1 on the mRNA and protein level observed in malignant thyroid tumors in comparison with benign lesions suggests that this protein may be associated with malignant transformation of thyroid epithelium. Extracellular and membrane glycoproteins are the main known ligands for this galactose-binding lectin. However, immunofluorescence studies ...

CA125 is an ovarian cancer antigen whose recently elucidated primary structure suggests that CA125 is a giant mucin-like glycoprotein present on the cell surface of tumor cells. Here, we establish a functional link between CA125 and beta-galactoside-binding, cell-surface lectins, which are components of the extracellular matrix implicated in the regulation of cell adhesion, apoptosis, cell prol...

Members of the galectin family of endogenous lectins are potent adhesion/growth-regulatory effectors. Their multifunctionality opens possibilities for their use in bioapplications. We studied whether human galectins induce the conversion of human dermal fibroblasts into myofibroblasts (MFBs) and the production of a bioactive extracellular matrix scaffold is suitable for cell culture. Testing a ...

The immune system recognizes diverse melanoma antigens. However, tumors can evade the immune response, therefore growing and progressing. It has been reported that galectin-3 and galectin-1 can induce apoptosis of activated lymphocytes. However, there is strong evidence indicating that the regulation of galectins function in the human tumor microenvironment is a complex process that is influenc...

Ras biological activity necessitates membrane anchorage that depends on the Ras farnesyl moiety and is strengthened by Ras/galectin-1 interactions. We identified a hydrophobic pocket in galectin-1, analogous to the Cdc42 geranylgeranyl-binding cavity in RhoGDI, possessing homologous isoprenoid-binding residues, including the critical L11, whose RhoGDI L77 homologue changes dramatically on Cdc42...

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality around the world. Despite advances in the targeted therapy, patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma(SCC) still benefit few from it, and the search for potential effective therapies is imperative. Here, we demonstrated that deguelin induced significant apoptosis of lung SCC cells in vitro. Importantly, we found deguelin down-regulated the e...

CONCLUSIONS Galectin-1 overexpression is significantly correlated with the survival rate of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Immunohistochemical analysis of galectin-1 expression might be useful for identifying patients with a high risk of distant metastasis and for prompting timely adjuvant systemic therapy for patients with aggressive NPC. OBJECTIVES We examined the effect of g...

In previous studies, we documented that galectin-3 (M(r) approximately 30,000) is a pre-mRNA splicing factor. Recently, galectin-3 was identified as a component of a nuclear and cytoplasmic complex, the survival of motor neuron complex, through its interaction with Gemin4. To test the possibility that galectin-3 may shuttle between the nucleus and the cytoplasm, human fibroblasts (LG-1) were fu...

Xenopus laevis (African clawed frog) has two types of proto-type galectins that are similar to mammalian galectin-1 in amino acid sequence. One type, comprising xgalectin-Ia and -Ib, is regarded as being equivalent to galectin-1, and the other type, comprising xgalectin-Va and -Vb, is expected to be a unique galectin subgroup. The latter is considerably abundant in frog skin; however, its biolo...