Galectins: their Network and Roles in Infection/Immunity/Tumor Growth Control
A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Medicine".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 52980
Special Issue Editor
Interests: dengue; malaria; leptospirosis; HIV; tuberculosis; inflammation; galectins; osteopontin
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Glycans are essential to proper animal development and cellular differentiation, but they are also involved in many pathogenic processes, including inflammation, tumor, microbial, and parasitic pathogenesis. Glycan-binding proteins (GBPs or lectins) are expressed by all types of cells and a growing class of bio-active proteins. The focus of this Special Issue is galectin, a lectin family that is defined by the presence of a highly conserved ~130 amino acid carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) that recognizes β-galactoside residues . Evolutionarily, galectins are also conserved in many phyla, including birds, amphibians, fish, nematodea, drosophila, sponges, and fungi. There are 15 different subtypes in this family that have been identified in a wide variety of human cells and tissues. Galectins are stored in the cytoplasm of many types of immune and stromal cells that occur at the entry sites of pathogenic micro-organisms, including fibroblasts, keratinocytes, endothelial cells, and mucosal membrane epithelial cells. Despite the highly conserved nature of galectin CRDs, subtle yet significant differences occur in the binding affinity between different members of the galectin protein family. Galectins are present inside the cytosol, close to the cellular membrane, or in the extracellular space, showing that they are probably released via non-classical secretory pathways and are involved in the control of RNA splicing, intracellular regulation of apoptotic signaling, and endocytic machinery and trafficking. Galectins are also released from injured cells and express a variety of activities under pathological conditions. This Special Issue aims to present studies that describe novel aspects of galectins.
Prof. Toshio Hattori
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- infectious disease
- cancer
- inflammation
- apoptosis
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