Table 1.

Galectin-9 and its binding partners in the regulation of immune response and tumor biology.

Ligand	Targeted cells	Biological function	Refs.
Tim-3	Dendritic cells, monocytes	Maturation promotion and cytokine secretion	36,38
Tim-3	T cells	Exhaustion or apoptosis	32,39
Tim-3	Natural killer cells	Regulating cell function at the maternal–fetal interface in early pregnancy	40
PD-1	T cells	Suppressing Gal-9/TIM-3-induced T cell apoptosis	41
Dectin-1	Macrophages	Tolerogenic macrophage programming and adaptive immune suppression	42
CD206	Macrophages	Driving angiogenesis and producing chemokines to support tumor growth	43
CD40	T cells	Suppressing proliferation and inducing cell death	44
4-1BB	T cells	Transducing signal and controlling functional activity	45
VISTA	T cells	Apoptosis	46
DR3	Regulatory T cells	Facilitating the activity of DR3 with respect to promoting Treg function that limits inflammatory disease	47
CD44	Regulatory T cells	Increasing cell stability and function, and enforcing cell differentiation and maintenance	48
TLR-4	Microglia	Alleviating brain injury and promoting neuronal restoration	49

Abbreviations: PD-1, programmed cell death protein 1; VISTA, V-domain Ig-containing suppressor of T cell activation; TLR-4, Toll-like receptor-4