Department of Neurology, University of Marburg, Baldinger Strasse, Marburg, Germany.
Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2012 Sep;13(11):2299-307. doi: 10.2174/138920112802502051.
Malignant gliomas, the most common malignant primary brain tumors, have a deleterious clinical prognosis of approximately 12 months in unselected series. The resistance against antineoplastic therapy is apparently not only associated with a high proliferative potential, marked antiapoptotic resistance and high migratory capacity. Effective mechanisms to escape the immune response of the organism and an intense neoangiogenesis also contribute to the aggressive growth of these neoplasms. In addition to a number of molecular mechanisms, the group of glycohydrate-binding galectins seems to contribute to the aggressive growth of malignant gliomas. Galectin-1, -3, -4 and -8 have been shown to be overexpressed in malignant gliomas. Galectin-1 is known to be involved in glioma cell migration and possibly also in proliferation. In this review, various aspects of glioma biology and their therapeutic relevance is discussed. The role of galectins in apoptosis-resistance, immune response and angiogenesis is discussed and explained why these molecules are interesting targets of glioma therapy.
恶性胶质瘤是最常见的原发性脑恶性肿瘤，未经选择的系列中约有 12 个月的有害临床预后。对抗肿瘤治疗的耐药性显然不仅与高增殖潜能、明显的抗凋亡抵抗和高迁移能力有关。有效逃避机体免疫反应和强烈新生血管形成的机制也有助于这些肿瘤的侵袭性生长。除了许多分子机制外，糖结合半乳糖凝集素组似乎也有助于恶性胶质瘤的侵袭性生长。已经表明恶性胶质瘤中过度表达了半乳糖凝集素-1、-3、-4 和-8。已知半乳糖凝集素-1参与神经胶质瘤细胞的迁移，并且可能也参与增殖。在这篇综述中，讨论了神经胶质瘤生物学的各个方面及其治疗相关性。讨论了半乳糖凝集素在抗凋亡、免疫反应和血管生成中的作用，并解释了为什么这些分子是神经胶质瘤治疗的有趣靶点。
