Main description:

Symposium 'Galectin Function and Therapeutics', which took place from September 17-19, 2012 in Boston, has had an important mission: to show the participants and the world where we stand with understanding galectins and their
functions and the direct applications of galectin management in practical medicine. This is a very complex and challenging issue. As is shown in Chapter 1, there are more than 3900 articles on galectins; on their structure and functions, published in academic literature since the middle of the 1990's. Most of these papers came from academia. As a result, we have a very advanced science on galectins, 15 of which were identified; on their chemical structure, interactions of galectins with their
ligands of both carbohydrate and peptide nature, (alleged) mechanisms of their intracellular and intercellular operations, interception of various biochemical processes, their expression and regulatory effects of the expression, etc. Significant amounts of work have been done with experimental
animals, including knockout gal(-/-) mice, as well on effects of galectins and their inhibitors on experimental pathologies in mice, rats, dogs, monkeys. In a few instances galectin inhibitors (galectin blockers) are being tested in human clinical trials, or will be tested soon. It all sounds very encouraging. However, a bird's eye view at these vast
research areas reveals a somewhat troubling, though not an unusual pattern. An observant eye will notice that the galectin-related field of science, which is essentially biomedical science, consists of four largely disconnected areas. They are connected by only one feature-galectins themselves, which is the main object of attention for the researchers.

Contents:

Contents ; Preface ; Overview ; 1. Galectins in Disease and Potential Therapeutic Approaches ; Anatole A. Klyosov and Peter G. Traber ; Galectin and Galectin Inhibitors: Structural Aspects ; 2. Low-Molecular Weight Inhibitors of Galectins ; Hakon Leffler and Ulf J. Nilsson ; 3. From Carbohydrate to Peptidomimetic Inhibitors of Galectins ; Kevin H. Mayo ; Galectin Extra- and Intra-Cellular Functions and ; Their Therapeutic Implications ; 4. Intracellular Galectins: Platforms for Assembly of Macromolecular ; Complexes ; John L. Wang, Kevin C. Haudek, Patricia G. Voss, Ronald J. Patterson, and ; Eric J. Arnoys ; 5. Galectins as Novel Regulators of Platelet Signaling and Function: ; Therapeutic Implications ; Gabriel A. Rabinovich and Mirta Schattner ; 6. Galectin-1 Cross-Linking of GM1 Ganglioside in Autoimmune ; Suppression ; Robert W. Ledeen, Gusheng Wu, David Bleich, Zi-Hua Lu, and Hans-Joachim Gabius ; 7. How To Build "Lean and Mean" Anti-Tumor T Cells: A Strategic View into ; the Anti-Carbohydrate Action of Fluorinated Glucosamine Analogs ; Charles J. Dimitroff ; 8. Post-Translational Modification of Galectin-3 and Its Role in Biological ; Function ; James C. Byrd, Nachman Mazurek, and Robert S. Bresalier ; Galectin Mechanisms and Therapeutic Approaches in Cancer ; 9. The Role of Galectin-3 in Malignant Melanoma ; Gordana Radosavljevic, Ivan Jovanovic, Jelena Pantic, Nada Pejnovic, ; Nebojsa Arsenijevic, Daniel K. Hsu, and Miodrag L. Lukic ; 10. Galectins as Novel Targets for the Treatment of Malignant Gliomas ; Herwig M. Strik and Matthias Ocker ; 11. Dynamic Tuning of Galectins and Their Binding Sites During Mammary ; Tumor Progression and Metastasis ; Joana T. de Oliveira and Fatima Gartner ; 12. Galectin-3C: Human Lectin for Treatment of Cancer ; Gary A. Jarvis, Leonardo Mirandola, Yu Yuefei, Everardo Cobos, ; Maurizio Chiriva-Internati, and Constance M. John ; 13. Angiostatic Cancer Therapy by Targeting Galectins in the Tumor ; Vasculature ; Iris A. Schulkens, Arjan W. Griffioen, and Victor L. Thijssen ; 14. Galectins and Pathologies: Role of Galectin-3 in the Communication ; between Leukemia Cells and the Microenvironment ; Nora Heisterkamp, Fei Fei, and John Groffen ; 15. Translational Rational for the Clinical Development of OTX-008: A Novel ; Drug That Inhibits Galectin-1 Expression in Human Cancer Models ; Eric Raymond, Lucile Astrorgue-Xerri, Maria Serova, Maria Eugenia Riveiro, and ; Sandrine Faivre ; 16. Improving the Clinical Efficacy of Cancer Vaccines by Targeting Immune ; Suppression in Human Tumors ; Nathalie Demotte, Aristotelis Antonopoulos, Jean-Francois Baurain, Gregoire Wieers, ; Nicolas Van Baren, and Pierre van der Bruggen ; 17. Targeting Galectin-3 Unveils the Complexity of Multiple Myeloma: A ; Sweet Context ; Leonardo Mirandola, Yuefei Yu, Constance M. John, Marjorie Jenkins, ; Everardo Cobos, and Maurizio Chiriva-Internati ; 18. Galectins in the Blood Circulation: Potential Therapeutic Targets of ; Cancer Metastasis ; Carrie A. Duckworth and Lu-Gang Yu ; Galectin Mechanisms and Therapeutic Approaches in ; Inflammation and Fibrosis ; 19. A Therapeutic Role for Galectins in Acute Inflammation? ; Dianne Cooper ; 20. Galectins in Immune and Inflammatory Diseases: Insights from ; Experiments with Galectin Deficient Mice ; Daniel K. Hsu, Ri-Yao Yang, Agnes Fermin, and Fu-Tong Liu ; 21. Autoimmune Disorders in Galectin-3 Deficient Mice ; Vladislav Volarevic and Miodrag L. Lukic ; 22. Galectin-3: A Central Regulator of Chronic Inflammation and Tissue ; Fibrosis ; Neil C. Henderson, Alison C. Mackinnon, Claire Rooney, and Tariq Sethi ; 23. The Role of Galectin-3 in Stellate Cell Activation and Liver Fibrosis ; Joy X. Jiang, Xiangling Chen, Hiroo Fukada, Dan K. Hsu, Fu-tong Liu, and ; Natalie J. Torok ; 24. Galectin-3 Mediated Cardiovascular Fibrogenesis: An Important Cause of ; Heart Failure and Cardiovascular Mortality ; Wouter C. Meijers and Rudolf A. de Boer ; 25. Mucins and Galectin-3 in Ocular Surface Health and Disease ; Jerome Mauris and Pablo Argueso ; 26. Role of Galectins in Wound Healing ; Noorjahan Panjwani, Ph.D. ; Editors' Biographies ; Indexes ; Author Index ; Subject Index