Galectins and Immune Responses-Just How Do They Do Those Things They Do?

Galectins are a family of mammalian carbohydrate-binding proteins expressed by many cell types. Galectins can function intracellularly and can also be secreted to bind to cell surface glycoconjugate counterreceptors. Some galectins are made by immune cells, whereas other galectins are secreted by di...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of immunology 2016-05, Vol.34 (1), p.243-264
Main Authors: Thiemann, Sandra, Baum, Linda G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
carbohydrate recognition domain
Carbohydrates - immunology
CRD
Cytoskeleton
Galectins - immunology
Galectins - metabolism
glycan ligand
Glycoproteins - metabolism
glycosyltransferase
Glycosyltransferases - metabolism
Humans
Immunity
lactosamine
lattice
Protein Binding
Receptor Aggregation
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Summary:Galectins are a family of mammalian carbohydrate-binding proteins expressed by many cell types. Galectins can function intracellularly and can also be secreted to bind to cell surface glycoconjugate counterreceptors. Some galectins are made by immune cells, whereas other galectins are secreted by different cell types, such as endothelial or epithelial cells, and bind to immune cells to regulate immune responses. Galectin binding to a single glycan ligand is a low-affinity interaction, but the multivalency of galectins and the glycan ligands presented on cell surface glycoproteins results in high-avidity binding that can reversibly scaffold or cluster these glycoproteins. Galectin binding to a specific glycoprotein counterreceptor is regulated in part by the repertoire of glycosyltransferase enzymes (which make the glycan ligands) expressed by that cell, and the effect of galectin binding results from clustering or retention of specific glycoprotein counterreceptors bearing these specific ligands.
ISSN:0732-0582
1545-3278
DOI:10.1146/annurev-immunol-041015-055402