Journal
CELLULAR MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 14, Issue 11, Pages 1657-1675Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1462-5822.2012.01838.x
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Funding
- DFG [SFB643]
- Interdisciplinary Center of Clinical Research (IZKF) at the University Hospital of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
- K&R Wucherpfennigstiftung
- EC
- MRC
- Wellcome Trust
- MRC [G0900888] Funding Source: UKRI
- Medical Research Council [G0900888] Funding Source: researchfish
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Galectin-3 is expressed and secreted by immune cells and has been implicated in multiple aspects of the inflammatory response. It is a glycan binding protein which can exert its functions within cells or exogenously by binding cell surface ligands, acting as a molecular bridge or activating signalling pathways. In addition, this lectin has been shown to bind to microorganisms. In this study we investigated the interaction between galectin-3 and Neisseria meningitidis, an important extracellular human pathogen, which is a leading cause of septicaemia and meningitis. Immunohistochemical analysis indicated that galectin-3 is expressed during meningococcal disease and colocalizes with bacterial colonies in infected tissues from patients. We show that galectin-3 binds to N.?meningitidis and we demonstrate that this interaction requiresfull-length, intact lipopolysaccharide molecules. We found that neither exogenous nor endogenous galectin-3 contributes to phagocytosis of N.?meningitidis; instead exogenous galectin-3 increases adhesion to monocytes and macrophages but not epithelial cells. Finally we used galectin-3 deficient (Gal-3-/-) mice to evaluate the contribution of galectin-3 to meningococcal bacteraemia. We found that Gal-3-/- mice had significantly lower levels of bacteraemia compared with wild-type mice after challenge with live bacteria, indicating that galectin-3 confers an advantage to N.?meningitidis during systemic infection.
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