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Review
. 2007 Dec;26(3-4):605-10.
doi: 10.1007/s10555-007-9095-6.

Regulation of cancer-related gene expression by galectin-3 and the molecular mechanism of its nuclear import pathway

Susumu Nakahara  1 , Avraham Raz
Affiliations
Review

Regulation of cancer-related gene expression by galectin-3 and the molecular mechanism of its nuclear import pathway

Susumu Nakahara et al. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2007 Dec.

Abstract

Galectin-3 (Gal-3), a member of the beta-galactoside-binding gene family, distributes inside and outside the cell and has pleiotropic biological functions such as cell growth, cell adhesion, cell-cell interaction, and mRNA processing in a specific situation. In particular, Gal-3 in the nucleus plays a pivotal role in the regulation of cancer-related gene expression, including cyclin D1, TTF-1 and MUC2, presumably associated with tumor progression. Therefore, to understand the mechanism of nuclear import of Gal-3 is very significant and might be developed to the new approach for the cancer treatment. In this review, we focus on the role of Gal-3 in the nucleus and the molecular mechanism of nuclear import pathways of Gal-3, providing the hints for the inhibition of Gal-3 function.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The role of galectin-3 in the nucleus for tumor progression. After galectin-3 is accumulated in the nucleus, it is phosphorylated at the Ser6 site and exerts up-regulation of several cancer-related gene expression
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Possible mechanism of the nuclear import of galectin-3. The nuclear import pathways of galectin-3 are governed by a passive diffusion and the complicated active transporting system
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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