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Galectin 14, a novel galectin with potential as an asthma target Allergies including asthma represent a common and complicated clinical challenge. In the US alone there are 50-60 million sufferers, who together with individuals with seasonal allergies impose a major strain on healthcare resources. This patient population accounts for 18.5 million physician visits, almost 2 million emergency room visits and $13 billion in direct costs per year in the US. Economic costs are considerably larger due to the number of working days lost to both conditions. Although more than 50 products are on the market for asthma and allergy, considerable preclinical research is currently underway much of it focusing on strategies for preventing eosinophil infiltration or activation. Eosinophils are one of the major cell types responsible for the development of chronic aspects of asthma and are activated by a variety of allergens, one of the most common of which is the house dust mite. In a previous edition of TherapeuticAdvances we focused on ecalectin, a T cell derived chemo-attractant for eosinophils with additional activating and pro-survival properties. University of Melbourne (Australia) researchers have recently described a second galectin, galectin 14, with some sequence similarity to ecalectin. Galectin 14 is selectively produced by eosinophils and is released into the lung following stimulation with dust mite antigen. The function of this novel molecule remains unclear, however this data suggests that the potential of targeting galectin 14 and the galectins in general for the development of asthma therapies deserves further investigation Link to journal abstract:
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