Potential directions for drug development against galectin-7 in cancer

Galectins are a family of proteins defined by having at least one characteristic carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) with an affinity for beta-galactosides. Over the recent years, with a better understanding of their role in normal and pathological conditions, they have emerged as promising diagnostic and therapeutic targets in cancer. Whereas most of these studies have focused on galectin-1 and galectin-3, very little attention has been paid to galectin-7, a member of the family that has recently been associated with various forms of cancer.

We review the role of galectin-7 in cancer and examine the possible directions that could be exploited to inhibit its role in cancer on the basis of recently identified galectin ligands.

Although efforts have been made to develop drugs aimed at inhibiting the cancer-promoting propensity of galectins, most of these inhibitors were specific for the CRD region of the molecule and have focused on extracellular functions of galectins. However, galectins may also be involved in protein-protein interactions, most notably in the nucleus. As galectin-7 is expressed in the cytoplasm and the nucleus in cancer cells, it will be important to investigate its nucleocytoplasmic trafficking and how putative drugs will affect its functions in cancer.