title: Animal lectins: potential antitumor therapeutic targets in apoptosis.
abstract: Lectins, a group of carbohydrate-binding proteins ubiquitously distributed into plants and animals, are well-known to have astonishing numerous links to human cancers. In this review, we present a brief outline of the representative animal lectins such as galectins, C-type lectins, and annexins by targeting programmed cell death (or apoptosis) pathways, and also summarize these representative lectins as possible anti-cancer drug targets. Taken together, these inspiring findings would provide a comprehensive perspective for further elucidating the multifaceted roles of animal lectins in apoptosis pathways of cancer, which, in turn, may ultimately help us to exploit lectins for their therapeutic purposes in future drug discovery.
authors: Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, General Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100853, China.
authors: Zhe
authors: Z
authors: Liu
authors: Qian
authors: Q
authors: Zhang
authors: Hao
authors: H
authors: Peng
authors: Wen-zhi
authors: WZ
authors: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D037102:Lectins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D037102:Lectins