Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 7, 2017; 23(29): 5266-5281
Published online Aug 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i29.5266
Contribution of galectin-1, a glycan-binding protein, to gastrointestinal tumor progression
María L Bacigalupo, Pablo Carabias, María F Troncoso
María L Bacigalupo, Pablo Carabias, María F Troncoso, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Instituto de Química y Fisicoquímica Biológicas (IQUIFIB), Consejo Nacional de lnvestigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires C1113AAD, Argentina
Author contributions: Bacigalupo ML and Carabias P contributed to literature search, manuscript writing; Bacigalupo ML contributed to figure composing and final revision of the article; Troncoso MF contributed to the study idea and design, manuscript writing, figure composing and final revision of the article.
Supported by CONICET (PIP-647); and UBA (Programación Científica 2016-2019, No. 20020150100005BA) to Troncoso MF.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Correspondence to: María F Troncoso, PhD, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Instituto de Química y Fisicoquímica Biológicas (IQUIFIB), Consejo Nacional de lnvestigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Junín 956, Buenos Aires C1113AAD, Argentina. fernanda@qb.ffyb.uba.ar
Telephone: +54-11-49648290 Fax: +54-11-4962-5457
Received: February 10, 2017
Peer-review started: February 14, 2017
First decision: April 21, 2017
Revised: May 4, 2017
Accepted: June 18, 2017
Article in press: June 19, 2017
Published online: August 7, 2017
Abstract

Gastrointestinal cancer is a group of tumors that affect multiple sites of the digestive system, including the stomach, liver, colon and pancreas. These cancers are very aggressive and rapidly metastasize, thus identifying effective targets is crucial for treatment. Galectin-1 (Gal-1) belongs to a family of glycan-binding proteins, or lectins, with the ability to cross-link specific glycoconjugates. A variety of biological activities have been attributed to Gal-1 at different steps of tumor progression. Herein, we summarize the current literature regarding the roles of Gal-1 in gastrointestinal malignancies. Accumulating evidence shows that Gal-1 is drastically up-regulated in human gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tissues, both in tumor epithelial and tumor-associated stromal cells. Moreover, Gal-1 makes a crucial contribution to the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal malignancies, favoring tumor development, aggressiveness, metastasis, immunosuppression and angiogenesis. We also highlight that alterations in Gal-1-specific glycoepitopes may be relevant for gastrointestinal cancer progression. Despite the findings obtained so far, further functional studies are still required. Elucidating the precise molecular mechanisms modulated by Gal-1 underlying gastrointestinal tumor progression, might lead to the development of novel Gal-1-based diagnostic methods and/or therapies.

Keywords: Galectin-1, Gastric cancer, Hepatocellular carcinoma, Colorectal carcinoma, Pancreatic cancer, β1,6-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase V

Core tip: Gastrointestinal cancer is a group of tumors that affect multiple sites of the digestive system, including the stomach, liver, colon and pancreas. Galectin-1 (Gal-1) is a β-galactoside-binding protein with the ability to cross-link specific glycoconjugates. Accumulating evidence shows that Gal-1 in human gastric cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tissues is up-regulated. Moreover, high levels of this galectin correlate with tumor development, aggressiveness, metastasis, immunosupression and angiogenesis. We also highlight that alterations in Gal-1-specific glycoepitopes may be relevant for gastrointestinal cancer progression.