Heusschen Roy, Griffioen Arjan W, Thijssen Victor L
Department of Medical Oncology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2013 Aug;1836(1):177-85. doi: 10.1016/j.bbcan.2013.04.006. Epub 2013 May 4.
Galectin family members have been shown to exert multiple roles in the context of tumor biology. Several recent findings support a similar multi-faceted role for galectin-9. Galectin-9 expression is frequently altered in cancer as compared to normal tissues. In addition, an increasing amount of evidence suggests that galectin-9 is involved in several aspects of tumor progression, including tumor cell adhesion and survival, immune escape and angiogenesis. Also, galectin-9 shows potential as a prognostic marker and a therapeutic target for several malignancies. In this review we summarize both the established and the emerging roles of galectin-9 in tumor biology and discuss the potential application of galectin-9 in anti-cancer therapy.
半乳糖凝集素家族成员已被证明在肿瘤生物学背景中发挥多种作用。最近的一些发现支持半乳糖凝集素-9具有类似的多方面作用。与正常组织相比，半乳糖凝集素-9的表达在癌症中经常发生改变。此外，越来越多的证据表明，半乳糖凝集素-9参与肿瘤进展的多个方面，包括肿瘤细胞黏附与存活、免疫逃逸和血管生成。而且，半乳糖凝集素-9显示出作为几种恶性肿瘤的预后标志物和治疗靶点的潜力。在本综述中，我们总结了半乳糖凝集素-9在肿瘤生物学中已确立的和新出现的作用，并讨论了半乳糖凝集素-9在抗癌治疗中的潜在应用。
