Galectin-3 is a β-galactoside-binding lectin widely expressed on epithelial and hematopoietic cells, and its expression is frequently associated with a poor prognosis in cancer. Because it has not been well-studied in human infectious disease, we examined galectin-3 expression in mycobacterial infection by studying leprosy, an intracellular infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae. Galectin-3 w...

Galectin-1 is a beta-galactoside-binding protein with potent anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory effects. However, its expression and function have not been assessed in the context of an infectious disease. The present study documents, for the first time, the regulated expression of galectin-1 in the context of an infectious process and its influence in the modulation of macrophage microbici...

Galectin-1 is an endogenous lectin with known T cell immunoregulatory activity, though the molecular basis by which galectin-1 influences Ag specific T cell responses has not been elucidated. Here, we characterize the ability of galectin-1 to modulate TCR signals and responses by T cells with well defined hierarchies of threshold requirements for signaling distinct functional responses. We demo...

The distinction between benign and malignant thyroid tumors is critical for the management of patients with thyroid nodules. We applied immunohistochemical staining for galectin-3, HBME-1, cytokeratin 19 (CK19), high molecular weight cytokeratin (HMWCK), cyclin D1 and p27(kip1) in 295 thyroid lesions to determine their diagnostic accuracy. The expression of all markers was significantly associa...

Epithelial cells lining mucosal surfaces impose multiple barriers to viral infection. At the ocular surface, the carbohydrate-binding protein galectin-3 maintains barrier function by cross-linking transmembrane mucins on the apical glycocalyx. Despite these defense mechanisms, many viruses have evolved to exploit fundamental cellular processes on host cells. Here, we use affinity assays to show...

Galectin-3 is a family member of the carbohydrate-binding proteins widely expressed by many cell types and exhibits multiple cellular functions. We demonstrate that melanocytes express galectin-3, which is predominantly localized to the cell body peripherally along the Golgi zone. Downregulation of galectin-3 in human melanocytes using short hairpin RNA technology resulted in the reduction of b...

BACKGROUND Changes in glycosylation of serum proteins are common, and various glycoforms are being explored as biomarkers in cancer and inflammation. We recently showed that glycoforms detected by endogenous galectins not only provide potential biomarkers, but also have different functions when they encounter galectins in tissue cells. Now we have explored the use of a combination of two galect...

In murine mammary epithelial cancer cells, galectin-3 binding to β1,6-acetylglucosaminyltransferase V (Mgat5)-modified N-glycans restricts epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor mobility in the plasma membrane and acts synergistically with phospho-caveolin-1 to promote integrin-dependent matrix remodeling and cell migration. We show that EGF signaling to RhoA is galectin-3 and phospho-caveolin-...

PURPOSE Adhesion and migration of dislocated retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells are initial steps in the pathogenesis of proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). The role of the endogenous lectin, galectin-1, in attachment, spreading, and migration of human RPE cells was investigated from a therapeutic perspective. METHODS Human RPE cells were treated with galectin-1 concentrations that ran...

INTRODUCTION Galectin-9 ameliorates various inflammatory conditions including autoimmune diseases by regulating T cell and macrophage/dendritic cell (DC) functions. However, the effect of galectin-9 on polymicrobial sepsis has not been assessed. METHODS We induced polymicrobial sepsis by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) in mice. The survival rate was compared between galectin-9- and PBS-trea...