Division of Cancer Research, Regional Cancer Centre, Medical College, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, India.
Tumour Biol. 2021;43(1):77-96. doi: 10.3233/TUB-200051.
Cancer metastasis and therapy resistance are the foremost hurdles in oncology at the moment. This review aims to pinpoint the functional aspects of a unique multifaceted glycosylated molecule in both intracellular and extracellular compartments of a cell namely galectin-3 along with its metastatic potential in different types of cancer. All materials reviewed here were collected through the search engines PubMed, Scopus, and Google scholar. Among the 15 galectins identified, the chimeric gal-3 plays an indispensable role in the differentiation, transformation, and multi-step process of tumor metastasis. It has been implicated in the molecular mechanisms that allow the cancer cells to survive in the intravascular milieu and promote tumor cell extravasation, ultimately leading to metastasis. Gal-3 has also been found to have a pivotal role in immune surveillance and pro-angiogenesis and several studies have pointed out the importance of gal-3 in establishing a resistant phenotype, particularly through the epithelial-mesenchymal transition process. Additionally, some recent findings suggest the use of gal-3 inhibitors in overcoming therapeutic resistance. All these reports suggest that the deregulation of these specific lectins at the cellular level could inhibit cancer progression and metastasis. A more systematic study of glycosylation in clinical samples along with the development of selective gal-3 antagonists inhibiting the activity of these molecules at the cellular level offers an innovative strategy for primary cancer prevention.
癌症转移和治疗耐药性是目前肿瘤学面临的首要障碍。本综述旨在指出细胞内外区室中一种独特的多功能糖基化分子——半乳糖凝集素-3（Galectin-3）的功能方面，以及其在不同类型癌症中的转移潜力。这里综述的所有材料都是通过 PubMed、Scopus 和 Google Scholar 搜索引擎收集的。在鉴定的 15 种半乳糖凝集素中，嵌合 Gal-3 在肿瘤转移的分化、转化和多步过程中起着不可或缺的作用。它涉及到使癌细胞在血管环境中存活并促进肿瘤细胞渗出的分子机制，最终导致转移。Gal-3 还在免疫监视和促血管生成中发挥关键作用，一些研究指出 Gal-3 在建立耐药表型方面的重要性，特别是通过上皮-间充质转化过程。此外，一些最近的发现表明使用 Gal-3 抑制剂来克服治疗耐药性。所有这些报告表明，细胞水平上这些特定凝集素的失调可能会抑制癌症的进展和转移。更系统地研究临床样本中的糖基化，并开发选择性 Gal-3 拮抗剂来抑制这些分子在细胞水平上的活性，为原发性癌症预防提供了一种创新策略。
