Marine Lectins in Innate Immune Modulation: Mechanistic Insights, Signaling Pathways, and a Cross-Taxa Evidence...

Area of Science:

• Marine immunology
• Innate immunity mechanisms
• Carbohydrate-binding proteins

Background:

• Marine lectins act as pattern recognition receptors in innate immunity.
• Mechanistic understanding of intracellular signaling (MAPK, NF-κB, JAK-STAT) is limited across marine taxa.
• Bivalve Mytilectins are well-studied, unlike lectins from echinoderms, cnidarians, fish, and algae.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize mechanistic insights into marine lectin signaling pathways.
• To compare signaling mechanisms across different marine phyla.
• To identify knowledge gaps and future research directions for marine lectin immunotherapeutics.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and synthesis of mechanistic studies on marine lectins.
• Cross-taxa comparison of signaling pathway activation (MAPK, NF-κB, JAK-STAT).
• Analysis of functional outcomes including cytokine production, endotoxin tolerance, and immune responses.

Main Results:

• Bivalve lectins activate macrophage signaling pathways (MAPK, NF-κB, JAK-STAT) via reactive oxygen species.
• Lectins exhibit context-dependent immune modulation, inducing inflammation or endotoxin tolerance.
• Demonstrated antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and cancer-associated immune responses.

Conclusions:

• Marine lectins, especially bivalve-derived, offer significant mechanistic insights into innate immunity.
• These lectins have therapeutic potential in antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and cancer immunotherapy.
• Further research is needed on adaptive immunity interactions and dendritic/NK cell roles.