A potential impact of Helicobacter pylori-related galectin-3 in neurodegeneration

Publication date: Available online 13 December 2017 Source:Neurochemistry International Author(s): Marina Boziki, Stergios A. Polyzos, Georgia Deretzi, Evangelos Kazakos, Panagiotis Katsinelos, Michael Doulberis, Georgios Kotronis, Evaggelia Giartza-Taxidou, Leonidas Laskaridis, Dimitri Tzivras, Elisabeth Vardaka, Constantinos Kountouras, Nikolaos Grigoriadis, Thomann Robert, Jannis Kountouras Neurodegeneration represents a component of the central nervous system (CNS) diseases pathogenesis, either as a disability primary source in the frame of prototype neurodegenerative disorders, or as a secondary effect, following inflammation, hypoxia or neurotoxicity. Galectins are members of the lectin superfamily, a group of endogenous glycan-binding proteins, able to interact with glycosylated receptors expressed by several immune cell types. Glycan-lectin interactions play critical roles in the living systems by involving and mediating a variety of biologically important normal and pathological processes, including cell-cell signaling shaping cell communication, proliferation and migration, immune responses and fertilization, host-pathogen interactions and diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders and tumors. This review focuses in the role of Galectin-3 in shaping responses of the immune system against microbial agents, and concretely, Helicobacter pylori (Hp), thereby potentiating effect of the microbe in areas distant from the ordinary site of colonization, li...
Source: Neurochemistry International - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research