Reprogramming the immunosuppressive microenvironment of colorectal cancer by targeting galectin-glycan lattices.

CAGNONI, ALEJANDRO JAVIER; MASSARO, MORA; CUTINE, ANABELA; MANSELLE COCCO, MONTANA; CROCI, DIEGO O.; KARINA MARIÑO; RABINOVICH, GABRIEL A.

Mar del Plata

Congreso; Reunión Anual de Biociencias; 2022

Sociedad Argentina de Investigaciones Clínicas

Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents the third most common malignancy and the second leading cause ofcancer-related deaths worldwide (1). Although immune checkpoint blockade therapies have achieved long-termresponses in several malignancies, in CRC their clinical benefit is only observed in heavily mutated tumors thatare mismatch-repair-deficient or have high microsatellite instability (2). Thus, the identification of novel immuneescape mechanisms and the design of additional immunotherapeutic modalities are required. We investigated therole of Galectins (Gal), particularly Gal-1, in colorectal cancer progression and found, through experimentalmodels and bioinformatic analysis, that targeting Gal-1-glycan lattices may represent a promisingimmunotherapeutic modality for treating CRC.