title: Emerging role of tissue lectins as microenvironmental effectors in tumors and wounds.
abstract: Detailed comparative analysis of at first sight not related process cascades is a means toward this aim: to trace common effector mechanisms and hereby eventually inspire innovative routes for therapeutic management. Following this concept, promotion of tumor progression by stroma, especially cancer-associated fibroblasts and smooth muscle actin-positive myofibroblasts, and beneficial activity of respective cells in wound healing have helped to delineate the involvement of endogenous lectins of the family of galectins. In addition to initiating conversion of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts, galectin-1 instructs the cells to produce a structurally complex extracellular matrix. This bioscaffold is useful for keratinocyte culture, also apparently operative in ameliorating wound healing. These functional aspects encourage to study in detail how lectin-(glycan) counterreceptor display is orchestrated. Such insights are assumed to have potential to contribute to rationally manipulate stem/precursor cells as resource in regenerative medicine.
authors.affiliation: Charles University, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Smetana
authors.affiliation: Charles University, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Pavol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Szabo
authors.affiliation: Charles University, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, Prague, Czech Republic, East-Slovak Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Department for Biomedical Research, Košice, and Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Košice, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gal
authors.affiliation: Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Institute of Physiological Chemistry, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: André
authors.affiliation: Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Institute of Physiological Chemistry, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Gabius
authors.affiliation: Charles University, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, and Department of Dermatovenerology, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Ondřej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kodet
authors.affiliation: Charles University, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Anatomy, Prague, Czech Republic. bdvorankova@seznam.cz.
authors.forename: Barbora
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dvořánková
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004777:Environment; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000473:pathology; D037102:Lectins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D037102:Lectins