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Pediatric Gender Medicine—Reply

Third, emerging evidence suggests that modulating glycosylation pathways could offer a novel therapeutic strategy for asthma management.Xie et al 5 proposed that targeting glycan recognition receptors, such as sialic acid-binding…

By John D. LantosJanuary 1, 20251 min readin JAMA

Third, emerging evidence suggests that modulating glycosylation pathways could offer a novel therapeutic strategy for asthma management.Xie et al 5 proposed that targeting glycan recognition receptors, such as sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectins (siglecs) and galectins, may attenuate immune-driven airway inflammation.This raises a fundamental question: could inhibition of glycan recognition pathways modulate immune responses similarly to current biologic therapies that target IL-5 and IL-13 signaling pathways?Whether blocking glycan-mediated immune activation could provide comparable clinical benefits currently remains unexplored.Further research should investigate whether modulation of glycosylation-related enzymes (eg, fucosyltransferases and sialyltransferases) can regulate immune responses and serve as a novel intervention for asthma.

Originally published at JAMA · January 1, 2025.

About the author

John D. Lantos is a pediatrician and bioethicist writing on AI in medicine, neonatal intensive care, and end-of-life decisions. His essays appear in JAMA, JAMA Pediatrics, the Hastings Center Report, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Aeon. Read more about John.

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