title: Increased galectin-1 expression in muscle of Astragalus polysaccharide-treated Type 1 diabetic mice.
abstract: In order to investigate the immunopharmacological function of Astragalus polysaccharide (APS) in Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), multiple low-dose streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice and normal mice were administered either APS or saline intraperitoneally once daily. The changes in galectin-1 expression in different organs of the mice were detected by ELISA, Real-time fluorescence quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot. The percentages of apoptotic CD8(+) T cells from spleens of APS-treated diabetic mice were measured by flow cytometry. We found that the expression of galectin-1 was increased in serum of APS-treated diabetic mice compared to the non-treated diabetic mice (*p < 0.05). Increased galectin-1 was mainly expressed in the muscle of APS-treated mice. In vitro, APS up-regulated the expression of galectin-1 in muscle cells in a dose-dependent manner. The percentage of apoptotic CD8(+) T cells in spleens of APS-treated mice was positively correlated with the concentration of APS treatment, and the blocking of galectin-1 in vivo by specific antibody reduced the percentage of apoptotic CD8(+) T cells in APS-treated mice. Our findings indicated that APS could up-regulate the expression of galectin-1 in muscle of T1DM mice, resulting in the apoptosis of CD8(+) T cells. This may be an important mechanism by which APS protects β cells of the pancreatic islets from apoptosis induced by CD8(+) T cells in T1DM in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xingjian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yancheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Guoming
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D027883:Astragalus Plant / Q000737:chemistry*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D037483:Galectin 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D037483:Galectin 1; D011134:Polysaccharides