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The role of galectins in immunity and infection

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 23, pages 479–494 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

The galectin family consists of carbohydrate (glycan) binding proteins that are expressed by a wide variety of cells and bind to galactose-containing glycans. Galectins can be located in the nucleus or the cytoplasm, or can be secreted into the extracellular space. They can modulate innate and adaptive immune cells by binding to glycans on the surface of immune cells or intracellularly via carbohydrate-dependent or carbohydrate-independent interactions. Galectins expressed by immune cells can also participate in host responses to infection by directly binding to microorganisms or by modulating antimicrobial functions such as autophagy. Here we explore the diverse ways in which galectins have been shown to impact immunity and discuss the opportunities and challenges in the field.

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Fig. 1: Galectins are unique regulators of host immunity.
Fig. 2: Regulation of adaptive immunity by galectins.
Fig. 3: Regulation of macrophages by extracellular and intracellular galectins.
Fig. 4: Galectins as sensors for endolysosomal damage.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported, in part, by the Ministry of Science and Technology Thematic Progam, the Academia Sinica Thematic Program and the Academia Sinica Summit Program to F.-T.L., as well as the Burroughs Wellcome Trust Career Award for Medical Scientists and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) U01 CA242109 and DP5 OD019892 to S.R.S. The authors thank C. Arthur, H. Verkerke, A. Paul, P. Wu and H.-L. Chen for helpful discussion, and C.-S. Li and W.-H. Lin for preparation of the illustrations. They are grateful to C. Bevins at UC Davis for reading the manuscript and making many valuable comments and suggestions.

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  1. Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinia, Taipei, Taiwan

    Fu-Tong Liu

  2. Center for Glycosciences, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Sean R. Stowell

  3. Joint Program in Transfusion Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Sean R. Stowell

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Liu, FT., Stowell, S.R. The role of galectins in immunity and infection. Nat Rev Immunol 23, 479–494 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41577-022-00829-7

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