Rabbit Polyclonal Antibody to Galectin-3
RPCA-Gal3

      This protein has several names including macrophage galactose-specific lectin or MAC2, galactoside-binding protein or GALBP, or galectin 3 or gal 3. It is a highly conserved molecule about 30kDa in molecular weight. Galectin 3 is a member of a multigene family of 15 vertebrate lectins all of which share one or in some cases two “carbohydrate recognition domains” (CRD) which bind to β-galactoside, a sugar moiety found on many cell surface proteins (1-3). Galectin 3 is unusual in that it also includes, at the N terminus, multiple proline, tyrosine and glycine rich repeats which allow this molecule to oligomerize, so allowing high avidity binding to β-galactoside. Galectin 3 is a multifunctional protein which is expressed extracellularly, on the cell surface, on mitochondria, in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus, and appears to function both in specific carbohydrate binding and in the regulation of mRNA splicing (1,2). Much evidence suggests that Gal-3 has an important role in the regulation of inflammatory responses and fibrogenesis (4), and also, when over-expressed, may inhibit apoptosis (5). Galectin 3 is also overexpressed in hypertrophied failure prone hearts, and evidence suggests that macrophage derived galectin 3 causes ventricular dysfunction and other problems (6).
      The RPCA-Gal3 antibody was made against full length human recombinant galectin 3 expressed in and purified from E. coli. We also market a mouse monoclonal antibody made against the same human galectin 3 immunogen, MCA-5C21. Mouse select above image at left for larger view.