Clinical Relevance of Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

STUPIRSKI, JUAN C.; PINTO, NICOLÁS A.; NASSWETTER, GUSTAVO G.; MENDEZ-HUERGO, SANTIAGO P.; MALLER, SEBASTIÁN M.; BERÓN, ANA M.; CAVALLASCA, JAVIER A.; HOCKL, PABLO F.; MOROSI, LUCIANO G.; MUSURUANA, JORGE L.; RABINOVICH, GABRIEL A.

THE ROLE OF GLYCANS IN IMMUNE CELL FUNCTIONS

Frontiers Media SA

Lugar: Lausanna; Año: 2020; p. 93 - 100

Galectins, a family of animal lectins, play central roles in immune system regulation, shaping both innate and adaptive responses in physiological and pathological processes. These include rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic multifactorial autoimmune disease characterized by inflammatory responses that affects both articular and extra-articular tissues. Galectins have been reported to play central roles in RA and its experimental animal models. In this perspective article we present new data highlighting the regulatedexpression of galectin-1 (Gal-1) and galectin-3 (Gal-3) in sera from RA patients under disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and/or corticoid treatment in the context of a more comprehensive discussion that summarizes the roles of galectins in joint inflammation. We found that Gal-1 levels markedly increase in sera from RA patients and positively correlate with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ERS) and disease activity score 28 (DAS-28) parameters. On the other hand, Gal-3 is downregulated inRA patients, but positively correlates with health assessment questionnaire parameter (HAQ). Finally, by generating receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves, we found that Gal-1 and Gal-3 serum levels constitute good parameters to discriminate patients with RA from healthy individuals. Our findings uncover a differential regulation of Gal-1 and Gal-3 which might contribute to the anti-inflammatory effects elicited by DMARDs and corticoid treatment in RA patients