Galectins have essential roles in pathological states including
cancer,
inflammation, angiogenesis and microbial
infections. Endogenous receptors include members of the lacto- and neolacto-series
glycosphingolipids present on mammalian cells and contain the tetrasaccharides
lacto-N-tetraose (LNT) and
lacto-N-neotetraose (
LNnT) that form their core structural components and also ganglio-series
glycosphingolipids. We present crystallographic structures of the
carbohydrate recognition domain of human
galectin-3, both wild type and a mutant (K176L) that influenced
ligand affinity, in complex with LNT,
LNnT and acetamido
ganglioside a-GM3 (α2,3-sialyllactose). Key structural features revealed include galectin-3's demonstration of a binding mode towards
gangliosides distinct from that to the lacto/neolacto-
glycosphingolipids, with its capacity for recognising the core β-galactoside region being challenged when the core
oligosaccharide epitope of ganglio-series
glycosphingolipids (GM3) is embedded within particular higher-molecular-weight
glycans. The lacto- and neolacto-
glycosphingolipids revealed different orientations of their terminal
galactose in the galectin-3-bound LNT and
LNnT structures that has significant ramifications for the capacity of
galectin-3 to interact with higher-order lacto/neolacto-series
glycosphingolipids such as
ABH blood group antigens and the
HNK-1 antigen that is common on leukocytes.
LNnT also presents an important model for
poly-N-acetyllactosamine-containing
glycans and provides insight into galectin-3's accommodation of extended
oligosaccharides such as the
poly-N-acetyllactosamine-modified N- and O-
glycans that, via
galectin-3 interaction, facilitate progression of lung and
bladder cancers, respectively. These findings provide the first atomic detail of galectin-3's interactions with the core structures of mammalian
glycosphingolipids, providing information important in understanding the capacity of
galectin-3 to engage with receptors identified as facilitators of major disease.