Galectin-1 is known to be one of the extracellular matrix proteins. To elucidate the biological roles of galectin-1 in cell adhesion and invasion of human anaplastic large cell lymphoma, we performed cell adhesion and invasion assays using the anaplastic large cell lymphoma cell line H-ALCL, which was previously established in our laboratory. From the cell surface lectin array, treatment with n...

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent mediators of the immune response, and can be activated by exogenous pathogen components. Galectin-1 is a member of the conserved beta-galactoside-binding lectin family that binds galactoside residues on cell surface glycoconjugates. Galectin-1 is known to play a role in immune regulation via action on multiple immune cells. However, its effects on human DCs are ...

Galectin-1, an endogenous lectin expressed in lymphoid organs and immune-privileged sites, induces death of human and murine thymocytes and T cells. Galectin-1 binds to several glycoproteins on the T cell surface, including CD7. However, the T cell surface glycoprotein receptors responsible for delivering the galectin-1 death signal have not been identified. We show that CD7 is required for gal...

Galectin-1 is a component of the extracellular matrix as well as a ligand of cell surface counter receptors such as beta-galactoside-containing glycolipids, however, the molecular mechanism of galectin-1 secretion has remained elusive. Based on a nonbiased screen for galectin-1 export mutants we have identified 26 single amino acid changes that cause a defect of both export and binding to count...

Galectin-7 is a beta-galactoside-binding animal lectin specifically expressed in stratified epithelia. Its expression is inducible by p53 and is down-regulated in squamous cell carcinomas. Other investigators previously showed that galectin-7 is a proapoptotic protein, and we showed that ectopic expression of galectin-7 in HeLa cells renders the cells more sensitive to a variety of apoptotic st...

Overexpression of galectin-3 in a variety of cancer cell lines has been shown to correlate with tumor progression and metastasis. In this study, we investigated the expression of galectin-3 in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CC-RCC) and evaluated the relationship between galectin-3 expression levels and the clinicopathological features of CC-RCC. Expression of galectin-3 in the kidney cancer c...

The utility of CEA and CA19-9 as colorectal carcinoma (CRC) markers is limited and development of additional reliable markers is under investigation. We previously showed that galectin-1 is overexpressed in CRC tissues. If such a protein leaks into the peripheral circulation, it might constitute a tumor marker candidate. Here, we test the hypothesis that the levels of circulating galectins coul...

Multivalent protein-carbohydrate interactions that are mediated by sugar-binding proteins, i.e., lectins, have been implicated in a myriad of intercellular recognition processes associated with tumor progression such as galectin-mediated cancer cellular migration/metastatic processes. Here, using a modified ELISA, we show that glycodendrimers bearing mixtures of galactosides, lactosides, and N-...

We have shown that galectin-1 and galectin-3 are functionally redundant splicing factors. Now we provide evidence that both galectins are directly associated with spliceosomes by analyzing RNAs and proteins of complexes immunoprecipitated by galectin-specific antisera. Both galectin antisera co-precipitated splicing substrate, splicing intermediates and products in active spliceosomes. Protein ...