DDLSS: Prof. Dr. Gabriel Adrian Rabinovich “The Power of Glycocheckpoints: Translating Glycan-encoded Information into Novel Therapies in Cancer and Autoimmune Inflammation”

Gabriel Rabinovich (PhD) completed his graduate (1993) and PhD (1999) studies at the Faculty of Chemical Sciences, National University of Córdoba. After training in Molecular Immunology at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology (Imperial College, London 1997) and The Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel 1999), he performed a post-doctoral training at the School of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires. Currently, he is Director of the Program of Glycosciences at the Institute of Biology and Experimental Medicine in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is also Senior Investigator of the Argentinean National Research Council (CONICET) and Plenary Professor of Immunology at the University of Buenos Aires. Recently he has been appointed as Senior Group Leader of CaixaResearch Institute in Barcelona, Spain. Among several recognitions, he has been distinguished as Member of the US National Academy of Science (NAS; 2016), European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO; 2021), Latin American Academy of Science, The World Academy of Science (TWAS), Argentinean Academy of Science and Argentinean Academy of Exact and Natural Sciences (ANCEFN). His work was recognized with several awards (more than 200) including the recent Hakomori Award (2025) given by the International Glycoconjugate Organization (IGO), Karl Meyer Award, given by the Society of Glycobiology (USA 2023) to the most outstanding glycoscientist in the world, the TWAS Prize in Medical Sciences (Italy), John Simon Guggenheim Award (USA), Outstanding Investigator of the Nation (Argentina), Bunge & Born Prize in Medical Sciences (Argentina), Konex Diamond Prize to the best scientist of the decade in Argentina (2014-2024, Argentina), Mizutani Foundation for Glycosciences (Japan), Cancer Research Institute New York (USA) and Bernardo Houssay award (Argentina), among others. He has published 350 articles, mostly in high profile journals including Cell, Nature, Cancer Cell, Nature Immunology, Nature Medicine, Immunity, Science Translational Medicine, Science Advances, PNAS and Journal of Experimental Medicine and was invited to write review articles in the most influential journals including Nature Reviews Immunology, Immunity, Annual Reviews Immunology and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery among others. Based on his work, he filled 11 patents in different countries (USA, Europe, UK, Japan; Argentina). He serves as Associate editor and member of the Editorial Board of 15 journals. Together with his team, he identified a novel paradigm based on protein-glycan interactions that controls immune and vascular programs. Briefly, he demonstrated that galectins, a family of β-galactoside-binding proteins, can translate glycan-encoded information into novel regulatory programs that control inflammation, suppress autoimmune pathology and allow cancer cells to evade immune responses and promote angiogenesis and metastasis. His findings opened new therapeutic possibilities in cancer, chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases. His work has received over 52,000 citations and has an h factor=102 (Google Scholar). In 2023 he co-founded Galtec Life, a biotech spin-off company, aimed at translating galectin-based discoveries into new therapies for patients with cancer, autoimmunity and chronic inflammation. Dr. Rabinovich has supervised/ co-supervised 32 PhD students, 28 post-doctoral fellows and 20 associate researchers. He delivered 450 lectures in international and national venues, organized several international scientific meetings and courses and has done an extensive work in promoting the advance of immunology and glycosciences all over the world. He has been distinguished with Doctor Honoris Causa from 12 different national and international universities and has been visiting professor at the University of Maryland, University of Paris and University of Miami.

The responsibility for deciphering the biological information encoded by the glycome- the whole repertoire of glycans in cells and tissues- is assigned to endogenous glycan-binding proteins or lectins whose expression is regulated at sites of inflammation and tumor growth. With the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets in cancer and autoimmune diseases, our laboratory investigates the molecular interactions between glycosylated receptors and glycan-binding proteins, particularly galectins in the control of immune and vascular programs. We have identified essential roles for galectin-1, a proto-type member of the galectin family, in promoting immune escape in different tumor models and limiting autoimmune inflammatory responses by differentially modulating the fate and function of effector and regulatory T cells and instructing the differentiation of immunosuppressive myeloid cells. Moreover, we identified the contribution of glycosylation-dependent, galectin-driven circuits to mechanisms of resistance of anti-angiogenic and immunotherapeutic modalities. Further, we validated the relevance of the galectin-1-glycan axis in immune-mediated models of autoimmune and chronic inflammatory disorders. Thus, galectins may function as regulatory checkpoints that translate 'sugar codes' into immune and vascular signaling programs in tumor and inflammatory microenvironments, highlighting their therapeutic potential in a broad range of pathologic conditions.