Description: The Anti-human Galectin-3 (M3/38) antibody recognizes an epitope in the N-terminal half of lectin. Galectins are a family of animal lectins which appear to exhibit a variety of biological functions. Galectin 3 (aka LGALS3, galactose-specific soluble lectin 3, Mac-2, L-29) is one of the more extensively studied members of this family and is a 30 kDa beta-galactoside-binding protein. Due to a C-terminal carbohydrate binding site, Galectin 3 is capable of binding IgE and mammalian cell surfaces only when homodimerized or homo-oligomerized. Galectin 3 is normally distributed in epithelia of many organs and various inflammatory cells, including macrophages, as well as dendritic cells and Kupffer cells. The expression of this lectin is up- regulated during inflammation, cell proliferation, cell differentiation and through trans-activation by viral proteins.
