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Review
. 2024 May 3;46(5):4271-4285.
doi: 10.3390/cimb46050260.

The Role of Galectins in Asthma Pathophysiology: A Comprehensive Review

Andrea Portacci  1 , Ilaria Iorillo  1 , Leonardo Maselli  1 , Monica Amendolara  1 , Vitaliano Nicola Quaranta  2 , Silvano Dragonieri  1 , Giovanna Elisiana Carpagnano  1
Affiliations
Review

The Role of Galectins in Asthma Pathophysiology: A Comprehensive Review

Andrea Portacci et al. Curr Issues Mol Biol. .

Abstract

Galectins are a group of β-galactoside-binding proteins with several roles in immune response, cellular adhesion, and inflammation development. Current evidence suggest that these proteins could play a crucial role in many respiratory diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer, and respiratory infections. From this standpoint, an increasing body of evidence have recognized galectins as potential biomarkers involved in several aspects of asthma pathophysiology. Among them, galectin-3 (Gal-3), galectin-9 (Gal-9), and galectin-10 (Gal-10) are the most extensively studied in human and animal asthma models. These galectins can affect T helper 2 (Th2) and non-Th2 inflammation, mucus production, airway responsiveness, and bronchial remodeling. Nevertheless, while higher Gal-3 and Gal-9 concentrations are associated with a stronger degree of Th-2 phlogosis, Gal-10, which forms Charcot-Leyden Crystals (CLCs), correlates with sputum eosinophilic count, interleukin-5 (IL-5) production, and immunoglobulin E (IgE) secretion. Finally, several galectins have shown potential in clinical response monitoring after inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and biologic therapies, confirming their potential role as reliable biomarkers in patients with asthma.

Keywords: Th2 inflammation; airway hyperresponsiveness; asthma; eosinophils; galectin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chronological summary of the current literature on galectins and bronchial asthma [16,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63]. Data were obtained from MEDLINE and EMBASE databases. No specific range of years was selected before the start of the literature revision.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Galectins’ role in main aspects of asthma pathophysiology. AHR: Airway hyperresponsiveness.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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