title: Molecular regulation of galectin-3 expression and therapeutic implication in cancer progression.
abstract: Galectin-3, a multifunctional protein, distributes inside and outside cells and plays an important role in tumor cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, angiogenesis, and metastasis in multiple tumors. Changes in galectin-3 expression are commonly seen in cancer and pre-cancerous conditions. Therefore, to understand the molecular regulation of galectin-3 expression could aid the development of new approach for cancer treatment. This review summarizes different expression of galectin-3 in cancer cells and patients' serum, the regulation mechanism and the potential therapeutic targets of galectin-3 in cancer progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, PR China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, PR China. Electronic address: guoxl@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiu-Li
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018450:Disease Progression; D037502:Galectin 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D037502:Galectin 3
keywords: Cancer; Galectin-3; Inflammatory cytokines; Ras/MAPK pathway; Regulation mechanism; Transcription factors