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Glycobiology Advance Access first published online on July 13, 2006
This version published online on August 4, 2006
Glycobiology, doi:10.1093/glycob/cwl025
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© 2006 The Author(s) This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
Received February 17, 2006
Revised July 10, 2006
Accepted July 11, 2006

Review

Galectin-1: A Small Protein with Major Functions

Isabelle Camby 1, Marie Le Mercier 2, Florence Lefranc 3, and Robert Kiss 2 *

1 Laboratory of Toxicology, Institute of Pharmacy; XPeDoc sprl, rue Halvaux 37, 7090 Ronquières, Belgium
2 Laboratory of Toxicology, Institute of Pharmacy
3 Laboratory of Toxicology, Institute of Pharmacy; Department of Neurosurgery, Erasmus University Hospital; Free University of Brussels (ULB), Brussels, Belgium

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Robert Kiss, E-mail: rkiss{at}ulb.ac.be


  Abstract

Galectins are a family of carbohydrate binding proteins with an affinity for {beta}-galactosides. Galectin-1 is differentially expressed by various normal and pathological tissues and appears to be functionally polyvalent, with a wide range of biological activity. The intracellular and extracellular activity of galectin-1 has been described. Evidence points to galectin-1 and its ligands as one of the master regulators of such immune responses as T-cell homeostasis and survival, T cell immune disorders, inflammation and allergies as well as host-pathogen interactions. Galectin-1 expression or overexpression in tumors and/or the tissue surrounding them must be considered as a sign of the malignant tumor progression that is often related to the long-range dissemination of tumoral cells (metastasis), to their dissemination into the surrounding normal tissue, and to tumor immune-escape. Galectin-1 in its oxidized form plays a number of important roles in the regeneration of the central nervous system after injury. The targeted overexpression (or delivery) of galectin-1 should be considered as a method of choice for the treatment of some kinds of inflammation-related diseases, neurodegenerative pathologies and muscular dystrophies. In contrast, the targeted inhibition of galectin-1 expression is what should be developed for therapeutic applications against cancer progression. Galectin-1 is thus a promising molecular target for the development of new and original therapeutic tools.

Keywords: cancer/inflammation/tumor immune escape/neurodegeneration/therapeutic application.
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