DISSECTING THE SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION PATHWAYS TRIGGERED BY GALECTIN-GLYCAN INTERACTIONS IN PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL SETTINGS

DIEGO LADERACH; DANIEL COMPAGNO; MARTA TOSCANO; DIEGO CROCI; SEBASTIAN DERGAN-DYLON; MARIANA SALATINO; GABRIEL A. RABINOVICH

IUBMB LIFE

IUBMB

Lugar: CHICAGO; Año: 2010 vol. 62 p. 1 - 13

1521-6543

Galectins are a family of evolutionarily conserved animal lectins with pleiotropic functions. In spite of the lack of classical secretory features, some family members are released to the extracellular milieu where they can interact specifically with glycoproteins and glycolipids on the cell surface or extracellular matrix. However, some galectins may also act intracellularly and display biological activities that are independent of their ability to bind carbohydrates. Through lectin-dependent or independent interactions, galectins trigger a cascade of signaling events involved in cellular differentiation, proliferation, migration and survival to modulate, angiogenesis, immunity and neoplastic transformation. Here we review the intracellular signaling pathways triggered by galectins to modulate cellular physiology and neoplastic transformation.