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Beschreibung

Galectin-9 (UniProt O00182, also known as Ecalectin, Gal-9, Tumor antigen HOM-HD-21, Urate transporter/channel protein) is encoded by the LGALS9 (also known as HUAT, LGALS9A) gene (Gene ID 3965) in human. The beta-galactoside-binding lectin Galectin-9 possesses two distinct carbohydrate recognition domains (CRDs) linked together by a peptide domain of different length among the S, M, and L spliced isoforms. Galectin-9 plays a key role in a negative feed-back mechanism against Th1 immune response, where galectin-9 production from various cell types (e.g. fibroblasts and endothelial cells) is induced by interferon-gamma produced by CD4+ Th1 lymphocytes. The upregulated galectin-9 in turn suppresses CD4+ Th1 lymphocytes, at least in part through stimulation of the Tim-3 receptor. The Tim-3 receptor on CD4+ Th1 cells from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, and auto-immune hepatitis is defective in its response to galectin-9. In addition, excessive galectin-9 production is reported in two human diseases associated with oncogenic viruses, nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC) associated with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and chronic infection by the hepatitis C virus (HCV).