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Galectins are among organisms' most abundantly expressed lectins (carbohydrate‐binding proteins) that specifically bind β‐galactosides. They act not only outside the cell, where they bind to extracellular matrix glycans, but also inside the cell, where they have a significant impact on signaling pathways. Galectin‐8 is a galectin family protein encoded by the LGALS8 gene. Its role is evident in both T‐ and B‐cell immunity and in the innate immune response, where it acts directly on dendritic cells and induces some pro‐inflammatory cytokines. Galectin‐8 also plays an important role in the defense against bacterial and viral infections. It is known to promote antibacterial autophagy by recognizing and binding glycans present on the vacuolar membrane, thus acting as a danger receptor. The most important role of galectin‐8 is the regulation of cancer growth, metastasis, tumor progression, and tumor cell survival. Importantly, the expression of galectins is typically higher in tumor tissues than in noncancerous tissues. In this review article, we focus on galectin‐8 and its function in immune response, microbial infections, and cancer. Given all of these functions of galectin‐8, we emphasize the importance of developing new and selective galectin‐8 inhibitors and report the current status of their development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacteria are capable of remarkable adaptations to their environment, including undesirable bacterial resistance to antibacterial agents. One of the most serious cases is an infection caused by multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which has unfortunately also spread outside hospitals. Therefore, the development of new effective antibacterial agents is extremely important to solve the increasing problem of bacterial resistance. The bacteriolytic enzyme autolysin E (AtlE) is a promising new drug target as it plays a key role in the degradation of peptidoglycan in the bacterial cell wall. Consequently, disruption of function can have an immense impact on bacterial growth and survival. An in silico and in vitro evaluation of iminosugar derivatives as potent inhibitors of S. aureus (AtlE) was performed. Three promising hit compounds (1, 3 and 8) were identified as AtlE binders in the micromolar range as measured by surface plasmon resonance. The most potent compound among the SPR response curve hits was 1, with a KD of 19 μM. The KD value for compound 8 was 88 μM, while compound 3 had a KD value of 410 μM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]