Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Department of Chemistry, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Med Res Rev. 2024 Sep;44(5):2236-2265. doi: 10.1002/med.22041. Epub 2024 Apr 13.
Galectins are among organisms' most abundantly expressed lectins (carbohydrate-binding proteins) that specifically bind β-galactosides. They act not only outside the cell, where they bind to extracellular matrix glycans, but also inside the cell, where they have a significant impact on signaling pathways. Galectin-8 is a galectin family protein encoded by the LGALS8 gene. Its role is evident in both T- and B-cell immunity and in the innate immune response, where it acts directly on dendritic cells and induces some pro-inflammatory cytokines. Galectin-8 also plays an important role in the defense against bacterial and viral infections. It is known to promote antibacterial autophagy by recognizing and binding glycans present on the vacuolar membrane, thus acting as a danger receptor. The most important role of galectin-8 is the regulation of cancer growth, metastasis, tumor progression, and tumor cell survival. Importantly, the expression of galectins is typically higher in tumor tissues than in noncancerous tissues. In this review article, we focus on galectin-8 and its function in immune response, microbial infections, and cancer. Given all of these functions of galectin-8, we emphasize the importance of developing new and selective galectin-8 inhibitors and report the current status of their development.
半乳糖凝集素是生物中表达最丰富的凝集素（糖结合蛋白）之一，它们特异性地结合β-半乳糖苷。它们不仅在细胞外起作用，与细胞外基质糖结合，而且在细胞内起作用，对信号通路有重要影响。半乳糖凝集素-8 是由 LGALS8 基因编码的半乳糖凝集素家族蛋白。它在 T 细胞和 B 细胞免疫以及先天免疫反应中发挥着重要作用，在先天免疫反应中，它直接作用于树突状细胞并诱导一些促炎细胞因子。半乳糖凝集素-8 在防御细菌和病毒感染中也起着重要作用。它通过识别和结合存在于液泡膜上的糖来促进抗菌自噬，从而充当危险受体。半乳糖凝集素-8 的最重要作用是调节癌症的生长、转移、肿瘤进展和肿瘤细胞的存活。重要的是，半乳糖凝集素的表达通常在肿瘤组织中高于非癌组织。在这篇综述文章中，我们重点介绍半乳糖凝集素-8 及其在免疫反应、微生物感染和癌症中的功能。鉴于半乳糖凝集素-8 的所有这些功能，我们强调开发新的和选择性的半乳糖凝集素-8 抑制剂的重要性，并报告其开发的现状。
