Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec;12(1):981-988.
doi: 10.1080/21505594.2021.1903212.

Altered expression of genes related to innate antifungal immunity in the absence of galectin-3

Caroline Patini Rezende  1 , Patricia Kellen Martins Oliveira Brito  2 , Andre Moreira Pessoni  1 , Thiago Aparecido Da Silva  2 , Gustavo H Goldman  3 , Fausto Almeida  1
Affiliations

Altered expression of genes related to innate antifungal immunity in the absence of galectin-3

Caroline Patini Rezende et al. Virulence. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is the most studied member of the animal galectin family, which comprises β-galactoside-binding lectins and participates in several cellular events. Its expression in cells involved in innate and adaptive immunity is related to anti- and proinflammatory functions, signaling an important role in inflammatory, infectious, and tumorigenesis processes. Mice deficient in Gal-3 exhibit important phenotypes, but it is unclear whether these phenotypes reflect an impairment of the functions of this protein. Gal-3 plays an important role in modulating the immune response to different pathogenic microorganisms. However, the role of Gal-3 in immunity to infection is still poorly understood. Therefore, we investigated the effects of Gal-3 deletion on the expression of genes involved in the innate immune response in the lungs, spleens, and brains of Gal-3 KO mice. Gene profiling expression analysis suggested that Gal-3 deletion resulted in differentially modulated expression of the genes encoding beta-glucan, mannose and chitin-responsive pattern recognition receptors, signal transduction, inflammation, and phagocytosis. Our data thus suggest the importance of Gal-3 expression in the host innate immune system.

Keywords: Galectin-3; antifungal immunity; gene expression; gene knockout; innate immune response.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Heat map showing expression of genes in the innate immune response in the absence of Gal-3
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Up- and downregulation of innate immunity genes in Gal-3 KO mice
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Barondes SH, Castronovo V, Cooper DNW, etal. Galectins: afamily of animal beta-galactoside-binding lectins. Cell. 1994. February;76(4):597–598. ISSN 0092-8674. - PubMed
    1. Cooper DN. Galectinomics: finding themes in complexity. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2002. September;1572(2–3):209–231. ISSN 0006-3002. - PubMed
    1. Liu FT, Rabinovich GA. Galectins as modulators of tumour progression. Nat Rev Cancer. 2005. January;5(1):29–41. ISSN 1474-175X. - PubMed
    1. Brewer CF, Miceli MC, Baum LG. Clusters, bundles, arrays and lattices: novel mechanisms for lectin-saccharide-mediated cellular interactions. Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2002. October;12(5):616–623. ISSN 0959-440X. - PubMed
    1. Fred Brewer C. Binding and cross-linking properties of galectins. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2002. September;1572(2–3):255–262. ISSN 0006-3002. - PubMed

Publication types