Introduction to galectins.
Good evidence suggest roles of galectins in cancer, immunity and inflammation, and development, but a unifying picture of their biological function is lacking. Instead galectins appear to have a particularly diverse, bewildering but intriguing array of activities both inside and outside cells--"clear truths and mysteries are inextricably twined". Fortunately this has not discouraged but rather enthused a large number of good galectin researchers, some of which have contributed to this special issue of Glycoconjugate Journal to provide a personal, critical status of the field. Here we will give a brief introduction to the galectins as a protein family with some comments on nomenclature.
Leffler
Hakon
H
Section MIG (Microbiology, Immunology, Glycobiology), Inst Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Sweden. hakon.leffler@mig.lu.se
Carlsson
Susanne
S
Hedlund
Maria
M
Qian
Yuning
Y
Poirier
Francoise
F
D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D037161:Galectins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary
D037161:Galectins