Galectins are soluble β-galactoside-binding proteins found in all multicellular organisms. Galectins may act as danger-associated molecular patterns in innate immunity and/or as pattern-recognition receptors that bind to pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Among different galectin family members, galectin-3 has been the focus of studies in neurodegenerative diseases in recent years. This lectin modulates brain innate immune responses, microglia activation patterns in physiological and pathophysiological settings in a context-dependent manner. Galectin-3 is considered as a pivotal tuner of macrophage and microglial activity. Indeed galectin-3 acts as a double edged sword in neuroinflammatory context and this multimodal lectin has diverse roles in physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Better understanding of galectin-3 physiology (its extracellular and intracellular actions) and structure (its C terminus vs. N terminus) is instrumental to design molecules that selectively modulate galectin-3 function toward neuroprotective phenotypes. Several experimental studies using different approaches and methods have demonstrated both protective and deleterious effects of galectin-3 in neuroinflammatory diseases. According to the crucial role of galectin-3 in modulation of innate immune response in brain, it is an attractive target in drug discovery of neurodegenerative diseases. The current insight attempts to provide an updated and balanced discussion on the role of galectin-3 as a complex endogenous immune modulator. This helps to have a better insight into the development of galectin-3 modulators with translational value in different neurological disorders including stroke and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease.

中文翻译：

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小胶质细胞衍生的 galectin-3 在神经炎症中的作用；苦乐参半的配体？

半乳糖凝集素是在所有多细胞生物中发现的可溶性β-半乳糖苷结合蛋白。半乳凝素可以作为先天免疫中与危险相关的分子模式和/或作为与病原体相关分子模式结合的模式识别受体。在不同的半乳凝素家族成员中，半乳凝素3是近年来神经退行性疾病研究的重点。这种凝集素以上下文相关的方式调节生理和病理生理环境中的大脑先天免疫反应、小胶质细胞激活模式。Galectin-3 被认为是巨噬细胞和小胶质细胞活性的关键调节剂。事实上，半乳糖凝集素 3 在神经炎症环境中充当双刃剑，这种多模式凝集素在生理和病理生理条件下具有多种作用。更好地了解 galectin-3 生理学（其细胞外和细胞内作用）和结构（其 C 末端与 N 末端）有助于设计选择性调节 galectin-3 功能以实现神经保护表型的分子。使用不同方法和方法的几项实验研究已经证明了 galectin-3 在神经炎性疾病中的保护和有害作用。根据 galectin-3 在调节大脑先天免疫反应中的关键作用，它是神经退行性疾病药物发现的一个有吸引力的靶点。目前的见解试图就半乳糖凝集素 3 作为一种复杂的内源性免疫调节剂的作用提供更新和平衡的讨论。