Shie-Liang Hsieh - Lectin in Host Defense Against Microbial Infections

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Lectin proteins recognise carbohydrate structures and those derived from plant sources such as ricin, wheat germ agglutinin and Concanavilin A have been of interest to immunologists for some time. More recently, lectin-like molecules in mammalian species have become widely studied as mediators of cellular recognition and responses such as adhesion, phagocytosis and cytotoxicity. They contribute to hostpathogen interactions, both invasion and evasion strategies, providing clues to ongoing evolution. Their ability to discriminate self from non-and modified self has been of perennial interest to immunologists. In combination with other membrane molecules, they contribute to homeostasis, inflammation and repair, with special reference to innate, acquired and autoimmunity; lectin receptors and potential ligands are expressed by all haematopoietic cells on the plasma membrane for extracellular recognition, and in cytoplasm during membrane glycoprotein and glycolipid biosynthesis and processing. The discipline of Glycobiology has grown enormously with technical advances in glycomic and structural analysis, facilitated by immunochemical tools such as monoclonal antibodies and contemporary genomics, cell biology and in vivo gene manipulation.

The present volume edited by Shie-Liang Edmond Hsieh from the Academia Sinica in the Republic of China (Taiwan) fulfils an unmet need in focussing on an important subgroup of receptors with canonical C-Type Lectin (CLEC) domains. The field of glycobiology research has flourished in Taiwan, with the return to Chang Gung University of Albert M Wu, a collaborator of Elvin Kabat at Columbia University in New York, and Chi-Huey Wong who was the founder director of the Genomics Research Center and President of Academia Sinica, which is the most prestigious research institute in Taiwan, from the development of a major research centre in Life Sciences at the Academia Sinica in Taipei. Shie-Liang Hsieh received his medical education at the National Yang-Ming University, and a doctorate in Biochemistry in Porters laboratory at Oxford. After postdoctoral studies with Hugh McDevitt at Stanford, he became a professor at National Yang-Ming University (from 19932003) and a Distinguished Research Fellow (from 2013 to the present) at the Academia Sinica, with broad research interests in Glycoimmunology, hostpathogen interactions and cancer immunology. He has published extensively on the role of glycan recognition in Dengue and other viral infections, by CLEC5A, and on a Decoy receptor 3 with pleiotropic roles in immunomodulation and immunopathology. In addition to several Taiwanese colleagues, notably Fu-Tong Liu, a galectin specialist, has established close ties with scientists in China, Japan, the UK and USA, as is evident from the list of contributors to the present volume.