Galectin

About: Galectin is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2076 publications have been published within this topic receiving 103409 citations. The topic is also known as: IPR001079 & Galectin.

Galectin-3 Inhibits Galectin-8/Parkin-Mediated Ubiquitination of Group A Streptococcus.

Abstract: Group A streptococcus (GAS) is an important human pathogen that causes a wide variety of cutaneous and systemic infections. Although originally thought to be an extracellular bacterium, numerous studies have demonstrated that GAS can trigger internalization into nonimmune cells to escape from immune surveillance or antibiotic-mediated killing. Epithelial cells possess a defense mechanism involving autophagy-mediated targeting and killing of GAS within lysosome-fused autophagosomes. In endothelial cells, in contrast, we previously showed that autophagy is not sufficient for GAS killing. In the present study, we showed higher galectin-3 (Gal-3) expression and lower Gal-8 expression in endothelial cells than in epithelial cells. The recruitment of Gal-3 to GAS is higher and the recruitment of Gal-8 to GAS is lower in endothelial cells than in epithelial cells. We further showed that Gal-3 promotes GAS replication and diminishes the recruitment of Gal-8 and ubiquitin, the latter of which is a critical protein for autophagy sequestration. After knockdown of Gal-3 in endothelial cells, the colocalization of Gal-8, parkin, and ubiquitin-decorated GAS is significantly increased, as is the interaction of Gal-8 and parkin, an E3 ligase. Furthermore, inhibition of Gal-8 in epithelial cells attenuates recruitment of parkin; both Gal-8 and parkin contribute to ubiquitin recruitment and GAS elimination. Animal studies confirmed that Gal-3-knockout mice develop less-severe skin damage and that GAS replication can be detected only in the air pouch and not in organs and endothelial cells. These results demonstrate that Gal-3 inhibits ubiquitin recruitment by blocking Gal-8 and parkin recruitment, resulting in GAS replication in endothelial cells.IMPORTANCE In epithelial cells, GAS can be efficiently killed within the lysosome-fused autophaosome compartment. However, we previously showed that, in spite of LC-3 recruitment, the autophagic machinery is not sufficient for GAS killing in endothelial cells. In this report, we provide the first evidence that Gal-3, highly expressed in endothelial cells, blocks the tagging of ubiquitin to GAS by inhibiting recruitment of Gal-8 and parkin, leading to an enhancement of GAS replication. We also provide the first demonstration that Gal-8 can interact with parkin, the critical E3 ligase, for resistance to intracellular bacteria by facilitating the decoration of bacteria with ubiquitin chains. Our findings reveal that differential levels of Gal-3 and Gal-8 expression and recruitment to GAS between epithelial cells and endothelial cells may contribute to the different outcomes of GAS elimination or survival and growth of GAS in these two types of cells.

Sialylation and glycosylation modulate cell adhesion and invasion to extracellular matrix in human malignant lymphoma: Dependency on integrin and the Rho GTPase family

Abstract: To determine the biological roles of cell surface glycosylation, we modified the surface glycosylation of human malignant lymphoma cell lines using glycosylation inhibitors. The O-glycosylation inhibitor, benzyl-α-GalNAc (BZ) enhanced the fibronectin adhesion of HBL-8 cells, a human Burkitt's lymphoma cell line, and of H-ALCL cells, a human anaplastic large cell lymphoma cell line, both of which were established in our laboratory. The N-glycosylation inhibitor, tunicamycin (TM) inhibited the surface expression of Phaseolus vulgaris leukoagglutinating (L-PHA) lectin- and Canavalia ensiformis (ConA) lectin-reactive oligosaccharides in the HBL-8 cell line. Assay of the adhesion of HBL-8 cells to fibronectin showed that fibronectin adhesion is mediated by the integrin very late antigen (VLA)-4 and that not only BZ but also TM treatment enhanced HBL-8 cell adhesion to fibronectin. Furthermore, although BZ treatment also enhanced H-ALCL cell adhesion to fibronectin, this effect was not mediated by VLA-5 or the RGD sequence of fibronectin. We also showed that H-ALCL cell adhesion to galectin-3 was enhanced by pre-treatment with neuraminidase, which cleaves cell surface sialic acid. Additionally, H-ALCL cell adhesion to galectin-3 was inhibited by pre‑treatment with the RGD peptide suggesting that cell adhesion to galectin-3 is mediated by integrin (VLA-5). Furthermore, H-ALCL cell invasion of galectin-1 and galectin-3 was inhibited by pre-treatment with the RGD peptide. Therefore, cell adhesion to and invasion of galectin-1 and galectin-3 are integrin-dependent. In addition to these findings, cell adhesion to galectin-3 was markedly inhibited by treatment with β-lactose compared to treatment with sucrose. Therefore, interactions between integrins and galectin-3 may be mediated through β-galactose that is linked to glycans of integrins. AZA1, an inhibitor of Ras homolog oncoprotein (Rho) GTPase family proteins, RAS-related C3 botulinus toxin substrate 1 (Rac 1) and Cell division control protein 42 homolog (Cdc42) markedly inhibited cell invasion of galectin-1 and galectin-3 suggesting that Rac 1 and Cdc42 may be involved in the regulation of H-ALCL cell invasion of galectins. In conclusion, artificial modification of cell surface glycosylation revealed the biological roles of glycosylation in the adhesion to and invasion of the extracellular matrix (ECM) by human malignant lymphoma cell lines. These findings will provide new insight into the glycobiology of human malignant lymphoma.

Galectins: a key intersection between glycobiology and immunology

Abstract: Galectins are a family of evolutionarily conserved animal lectins, widely distributed from lower invertebrates to mammals. They share sequence and structure similarities in the carbohydrate recognition domain and specificity for polylactosamine-enriched glycoconjugates. In the last few years significant experimental data have been accumulated concerning their participation in different biological processes requiring carbohydrate recognition such as cell adhesion, cell growth regulation, inflammation, immunomodulation, apoptosis and metastasis. In the present review we will discuss some exciting questions and advances in galectin research, highlighting the significance of these proteins in immunological processes and their implications in biomedical research, disease diagnosis and clinical intervention. Designing novel therapeutic strategies based on carbohydrate recognition will provide answers for the treatment of autoimmune disorders, inflammatory processes, allergic reactions and tumor spreading.