{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T05:07:44Z","timestamp":1790140064767,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":43,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research","id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0187kwz08","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0187kwz08","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000691","name":"Academy of Medical Sciences","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["SGL029\\1027"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SGL029\\1027"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["SGL029\\1027"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["SGL029\\1027"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00c489v88","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Mol. Sci.","IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a \u00df-galactoside sugar-binding protein increasingly recognised for its role in systemic inflammation, fibrosis, and cancer. Within the retina, M\u00fcller glial cells (MGCs) are a major producer of Gal-3. This study aimed to investigate the impact of Gal-3 on the migration of MGCs. CRISPR-Cas9 knockout of Gal-3 resulted in slower cellular migration in MGCs (p &lt; 0.001). This was partially rescued by the addition of exogenous Gal-3 (p &lt; 0.01). The addition of Gal-3 inhibitor TD139 (p &lt; 0.01) resulted in decreased cellular migration, whilst the addition of Neuraminidase 1 (p &lt; 0.05) resulted in increased cellular migration. TGF-\u03b2 treatment downregulated Gal-3 mRNA (p &lt; 0.01) and protein (p &lt; 0.001) expression; increased the mRNA expression of various sialylation enzymes; and resulted in significantly decreased cellular proliferation (p &lt; 0.01) and migration (p &lt; 0.001). These findings establish Gal-3 as a pro-migratory driver in MGCs under the regulation of TGF-\u03b2. Consequently, targeting the Gal-3\/tissue sialylation axis represents a promising therapeutic avenue for mitigating pathological glial proliferation and migration in conditions such as proliferative vitreoretinopathy.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27188430","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T13:32:12Z","timestamp":1790083932000},"page":"8430","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Galectin-3 Mediates TGF-\u03b2-Controlled Migration in M\u00fcller Glial Cells"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3621-1777","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joshua","family":"Luis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre for Ophthalmology, University College London Institute of Ophthalmology & Moorfields Eye Hospital, London EC1V 9EL, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karen","family":"Eastlake","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre for Ophthalmology, University College London Institute of Ophthalmology & Moorfields Eye Hospital, London EC1V 9EL, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7014-8922","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"G. Astrid","family":"Limb","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre for Ophthalmology, University College London Institute of Ophthalmology & Moorfields Eye Hospital, London EC1V 9EL, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8087-2268","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peng T.","family":"Khaw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre for Ophthalmology, University College London Institute of Ophthalmology & Moorfields Eye Hospital, London EC1V 9EL, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hari","family":"Jayaram","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre for Ophthalmology, University College London Institute of Ophthalmology & Moorfields Eye Hospital, London EC1V 9EL, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"jcs208884","DOI":"10.1242\/jcs.208884","article-title":"Galectins at a glance","volume":"131","author":"Johannes","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. 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