Galactosto Immuno

Galactose was first identified in milk by Louis Pasteur in 1856, who denominated it as

‘lactose’. Only later, it was named ‘galactose’ from the Greek word ‘galakt’, which means

‘milk’. Galactose is a natural aldohexose that, like most sugars, occurs more frequently in nature

in its D-configuration. D-galactose is ubiquitous in bacteria, plants, and animals. It is available as

free and bound galactose. The bound form comprises complex carbohydrates, for example,

oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, glycoproteins, and glycolipids. Along with glucose,

galactose forms the disaccharide lactose – a sugar present in most animal milks and a key source

of energy in infants. The biological importance of galactose, however, goes beyond its

importance as a nutrient and a metabolite. Galactose appears to have been selected by

evolutionary pressure to also exert a crucial structural role. Indeed, despite the fact that it differs

from glucose in the configuration of the hydroxyl group at the carbon-4 position, galactose has a

myriad of specific functional and structural roles in living organisms that cannot be exerted by

glucose.

Until recently, the oligosaccharide galactose-α-1, 3-galactose (α-gal) was best known for

its role as a major antigenic barrier in xenotransplantation. Owing to a loss of functional

galactosyltransferase, humans and other members of the catarrhine group of primates lack the

synthetic machinery to generate α-gal, distinguishing them from other mammals. The emergence

of the non-functional pseudogene is estimated to have happened ~28 million years ago, and

while the selective pressures for this divergence are not certain, one hypothesis is that loss of α-

gal evolved because it provided a mechanism of pathogen immuno-surveillance. Indeed, humans

produce abundant natural antibodies to α-gal, likely related to the presence of α-gal in microbial

flora. While earlier work reported that anti-α-gal constituted 1% of total IgG, more recent work
argues it is about a log order less, but nonetheless a notable fraction. It is these pre-existing

antibodies to α-gal, predominantly IgM and IgG2, which represent the dominant mechanism of

hyper acute rejection in porcine xenotransplantation. It has only been over the last decade that α-

gal has been appreciated as an important epitope in IgE-mediated drug and food reactions.

Galactose is crucial in human metabolism, with an established role in energy delivery.

There is strong evidence of the potential therapeutic benefits of galactose. Galactose has recently

been reported to be beneficial in the management of a number of diseases, particularly those

affecting brain function. The conversion of galactose to amino acids in the brain requires

ammonia equivalents as a substrate. Galactose plays a potentially useful role in removing these

neurotoxic compounds from the brain in patients suffering from hepatic encephalopathy or

Alzheimer's disease. Dementia is associated with dysfunction of the insulin-receptor system,

followed by decreased glucose transport to and subsequent metabolism in brain cells. As

galactose is transported to the brain, it can act as an alternative source of energy owing to its

metabolism to glucose. Daily oral galactose administration has also been shown to be a

promising new, non-toxic therapy for the treatment of resistant nephrotic syndrome.
References

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