Galectin-1 is expressed by thymic epithelial cells in myasthenia gravis |
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Authors: | Charlene Hafer-Macko Mabel Pang Jeffrey J. Seilhamer Linda G. Baum |
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Affiliation: | (1) Neuropsychiatric Institute, UCLA School of Medicine, 10833 Le Conte Ave, 90095 Los Angeles, California, USA;(2) Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UCLA School of Medicine, 10833 Le Conte Ave, 90095 Los Angeles, California, USA;(3) Incyte Pharmaceuticals, 3174 Porter Dr., 94304 Palo Alto, California, USA;(4) Present address: Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 600 N Wolfe St, 21287 Baltimore, Maryland, USA |
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Abstract: | Galectin-1, a member of a family of carbohydrate binding proteins, is synthesized by thymic epithelial cells in normal juvenile thymus, and mediates adhesion of immature T cells to thymic epithelium. Because cell adhesion molecules are proposed to play a role in the thymic hyperplasia and neoplasia seen in the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis, we examined the expression of galectin-1 in myasthenic thymi. We detected abundant galectin-1 expression in thymic epithelial cells in 27 hyperplastic and neoplastic thymi from patients with myasthenia gravis. Primary cultures of neoplastic epithelial cells from a thymoma continued to express galectin-1, and bound immature T cells; T cell binding was inhibited by the addition of the -galactosides lactose and thiodigalactoside, suggesting that galectin-1 on the thymoma cells and a saccharide ligand on the T cells participated in cell-cell adhesion. Expression of galectin-1 by thymic epithelial cells may play a role in the thymic pathology seen in myasthenia gravis. |
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Keywords: | galectin-1 myasthenia gravis thymus thymoma T cell |
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