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Updated: Aug 28, 2025

Bioinformatics Resources for the Study of Glycan-Mediated Protein Interactions
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Galectokines: The Promiscuous Relationship between Galectins and Cytokines

Lucía Sanjurjo1, Esmee C Broekhuizen2, Rory R Koenen3

  • 1Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CiMUS), Barcelona Ave., 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Biomolecules
|September 23, 2022
PubMed

Galectins, a family of glycan-binding proteins, are well-known for their role in shaping the immune microenvironment. They can directly affect the activity and survival of different immune cell subtypes. Recent evidence suggests that galectins also indirectly affect the immune response by binding to members of another immunoregulatory protein family, i.e., cytokines. Such galectin-cytokine heterodimers, here referred to as galectokines, add a new layer of complexity to the regulation of immune homeostasis. Here, we summarize the current knowledge with regard to galectokine formation and function. We describe the known and potential mechanisms by which galectokines can help to shape the immune microenvironment. Finally, the outstanding questions and challenges for future research regarding the role of galectokines in immunomodulation are discussed.

Keywords:
cancerchemokineglycobiologyimmune responseimmunityprotein interaction

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