Galectin, an animal lectin that recognizes beta-galactoside of glycoconjugates, is abundant in the gut. This IHC study showed the subtype-specific localization of galectin in the mouse digestive tract. Mucosal epithelium showed region/cell-specific localization of each galectin subtype. Gastric mucous cells exhibited intense immunoreactions for galectin-2 and galectin-4/6 with a limited localiz...

Galectins are evolutionarily conserved beta-galactoside-binding lectins which recognize specific glycoconjugates on the cell surface and the extracellular matrix. Accumulating evidence indicates that these proteins are involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes including tumor growth and metastasis. Up-regulated expression of galectin-1 is a hallmark of a variety of malig...

Surface sialylation and glycosylation of tumor cells is known to affect various biological phenomena. In the present study, we analyzed the regulatory roles of cell surface sialylation in cell adhesion to galectin-1 in the human diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) cell line, HBL-2, and Burkitt's lymphoma cell line, HBL-8. Vibrio cholerae neuraminidase treatment enhanced HBL-2 cell adhesion to...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-A-driven angiogenesis contributes to various disorders including cancer and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Among several VEGF-A blockers clinically used is aflibercept, a chimeric VEGFR1/VEGFR2-based decoy receptor fused to the Fc fragment of IgG1 (i.e., VEGFR1/VEGFR2-Fc). Here, we revealed a novel anti-angiogenic function for aflibercept bey...

Monitoring of gene-expression profiles is assumed to refine tumor characterization of laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas (LSCCs) with a therapeutic perspective. This is especially expected for adhesion/growth-regulatory effectors such as galectins, a class of endogenous lectins. Using computer-assisted microscopy, we investigated the prognostic value contributed by the quantitative determinatio...

Although Gal beta 1-4GlcNAc (LacNAc) moieties are the most common constituents of N-linked glycans on vertebrate proteins, GalNAc beta 1-4GlcNAc (LacdiNAc, LDN)-containing glycans are widespread in invertebrates, such as helminths. We postulated that LDN might be a molecular pattern for recognition of helminth parasites by the immune system. Using LDN-based affinity chromatography and mass spec...

PURPOSE To identify a 15-KDa novel hypoxia-induced secreted protein in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) and to determine its role in malignant progression. METHODS We used surface-enhanced laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (SELDI-TOF-MS) and tandem MS to identify a novel hypoxia-induced secreted protein in FaDu cells. We used immunoblots, real-time pol...

We have obtained the X-ray crystal structure of galectin-8 N-terminal domain (galectin-8N) with a previously reported quinoline–galactoside ligand at resolution 1.6 Å. Based on this structure, collection galactosides derivatised O3 triazole, benzimidazole, benzothiazole, and benzoxazole moieties were designed synthesised. This led to discovery 3-O-(N-methylbenzimidazolylmethyl)–galactoside Kd 1...

BACKGROUND Drug resistance of B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BP-ALL) cells is conferred by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, which could be targeted to promote chemo-sensitization. Our previous studies showed that Galectin-3, a lectin that clusters galactose-modified glycoproteins and that has both an intracellular and extracellular location, protects different subtypes of B...

Galectin-3, a member of the galectin protein family, has been found to regulate cell proliferation, inhibit apoptosis and promote inflammatory responses. Galectin-3 is also expressed in the adult rat hippocampus, but its role in learning and memory function is not known. Here, we found that contextual fear-conditioning training, spatial training or injection of NMDA into the rat CA1 area each d...