Reticker-Flynn and Bhatia have shown that galectin-3 contributes to the formation and establishment of a pro-tumorigenic metastatic niche. The authors analysed the expression of galectin-3 in the liver of a mouse model of metastatic lung adenocarcinoma and found that it was expressed in a population of myeloid cells, which are mobilized in response to soluble factors secreted from cancer cells. Further experiments showed that metastatic cancer cells adhere to galectin-3 through increased presentation of galectin-3 carbohydrate ligand (the Thomsen–Friedenreich antigen), which is mediated by aberrant glycosyltransferase.
References
Reticker-Flynn, N. E. & Bhatia, S. N. Aberrant glycosylation promotes lung cancer metastasis through adhesion to galectins in the metastatic niche. Cancer Discov. http://dx.doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-13-0760 (2014)
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Villanueva, M. Home sweet home. Nat Rev Cancer 15, 2 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3887
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3887