Demetter P, Nagy N, Martin B, Mathieu A, Dumont P, Decaestecker C, Salmon I
Department of Pathology, Erasme University Hospital, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium.
J Pathol. 2008 May;215(1):1-12. doi: 10.1002/path.2334.
The soluble-type lectins or galectins constitute a family of proteins defined by shared consensus amino acid sequence and affinity for beta-galactose-containing oligosaccharides. These molecules are widely distributed in the animal kingdom; to date, 15 mammalian galectins have been described but more are likely to be discovered. These proteins are involved in many biological processes including cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion, growth regulation, signaling, and cytokine secretion. Over the last decade, a vast amount of reports has shown the importance of several galectins in the development and progression of malignancies in the digestive tract, mainly colorectal cancers. More recent data indicate that some of these molecules are also involved in inflammatory bowel diseases. This review focuses on the current knowledge of galectin expression and putative functions in the oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon. It also highlights that the rapid accumulation of research data promises future scenarios in which individual members of the galectin family and/or their ligands will be used as diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for neoplastic as well as inflammatory disorders. However, the concretization of these potential modalities requires substantial improvements in terms of standardization of galectin expression evaluation together with prospective validation of the present data.
可溶性凝集素或半乳糖凝集素构成了一类蛋白质家族，其由共享的共有氨基酸序列以及对含β-半乳糖寡糖的亲和力所定义。这些分子广泛分布于动物界；迄今为止，已描述了15种哺乳动物半乳糖凝集素，但可能还会发现更多。这些蛋白质参与许多生物学过程，包括细胞间和细胞与基质的黏附、生长调节、信号传导以及细胞因子分泌。在过去十年中，大量报告表明几种半乳糖凝集素在消化道恶性肿瘤（主要是结直肠癌）的发生和发展中具有重要作用。最近的数据表明，其中一些分子也参与炎症性肠病。本综述重点关注半乳糖凝集素在食管、胃、小肠和结肠中的表达及假定功能方面的现有知识。它还强调，研究数据的迅速积累预示着未来的情景，即半乳糖凝集素家族的个别成员和/或其配体将被用作肿瘤性疾病以及炎症性疾病的诊断和治疗手段。然而，要实现这些潜在手段，需要在半乳糖凝集素表达评估的标准化以及对现有数据的前瞻性验证方面有实质性改进。
