Navarro Pilar, Martínez-Bosch Neus, Blidner Ada G, Rabinovich Gabriel A
Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona (IIBB-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain.
Cancer Research Program, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM), Unidad Asociada IIBB-CSIC, Barcelona, Spain.
Clin Cancer Res. 2020 Dec 1;26(23):6086-6101. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-3870. Epub 2020 Jul 24.
Galectins are an endogenous family of β-galactoside-binding proteins that play complex and multifaceted roles at various stages of cancer progression, including modulation of tumor cell proliferation, signaling, adhesion, migration, invasion, epithelial-mesenchymal transition, angiogenesis, and immune escape. Recently, galectins have been implicated as major therapeutic determinants that confer sensitivity or resistance to a wide range of anticancer modalities including chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapies, antiangiogenic therapies, and immunotherapies. Here, we present an integrated approach to the pleiotropic functions of galectins and discuss their emerging roles with respect to mechanisms of resistance or sensitivity to anticancer therapies. Taken together, these findings suggest that targeting galectins and/or their glycosylated ligands may help to overcome resistance and to increase the clinical efficacy of anticancer strategies.
半乳糖凝集素是一类内源性β-半乳糖苷结合蛋白家族，在癌症进展的各个阶段发挥着复杂且多方面的作用，包括调节肿瘤细胞增殖、信号传导、黏附、迁移、侵袭、上皮-间质转化、血管生成和免疫逃逸。最近，半乳糖凝集素被认为是主要的治疗决定因素，赋予对包括化疗、放疗、靶向治疗、抗血管生成治疗和免疫治疗在内的多种抗癌方式的敏感性或抗性。在此，我们提出一种综合方法来探讨半乳糖凝集素的多效性功能，并讨论它们在抗癌治疗抗性或敏感性机制方面的新作用。综上所述，这些发现表明靶向半乳糖凝集素和/或其糖基化配体可能有助于克服抗性并提高抗癌策略的临床疗效。
