The role of TIM-containing molecules in airway disease and their potential as therapeutic targets

Isabel Vega-Carrascal, Emer P Reeves, Noel G McElvaney

Respiratory Research Division, Department of Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Education and Research Centre, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland

Abstract: T cell immunoglobulin and mucin-domain (TIM)-containing molecules have emerged as promising therapeutic targets to correct abnormal immune function in several autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions. Despite the initial discovery linking TIM-containing molecules and the airway hyperreactivity regulatory locus in mice, there is a paucity of studies on the function of TIM-containing molecules in lung inflammatory disease. Initially, studies were limited to mice models of asthma. More recently however, TIM-containing molecules have been implicated in an ever-expanding list of airway conditions that includes pneumonia, tuberculosis, influenza, sarcoidosis, lung cancer, and cystic fibrosis. This present review discusses the role of TIM-containing molecules and their ligands in the lung, as well as their potential as therapeutic targets in airway disease.

Keywords: T cell immunoglobulin and mucin-domain, inflammation, galectin-9, airway disease