Role of individual galectins in the hallmarks of cancer.
Galectins participate in each of the main characteristic tumor programs described by Hanahan y Weinberg as the “Hallmarks of Cancer”.
This adapted figure from Hanahan and Weinberg’s iconic review “The hallmarks of cancer: The next generation” (Hanahan and Weinberg, 2011) depicts the impact of different galectin family members on different cancer hallmarks. Galectins can either promote (green) or impair (red) different cellular and molecular processes leading to tumor growth and progression. Most work has focused on the role of galectins on selected cancer hallmarks such as avoiding immune responses, promoting angiogenesis, and sustaining proliferative signaling, while their influence on other hallmarks has only been partially explored. Fig. 1 is adapted with permission from Cell.
