reply: We thank Dr. Eliaz (4) for his interest and helpful comment on our recent study (11). Dr. Eliaz raised concern on the source and biochemical nature of modified citrus pectin (MCP) used in our study, an issue also important to research on galectin-3 in general. This is because MCP is the most commonly used inhibitor of galectin-3, likely due to a few reasons such as low cost, orally administrable, lack of safety concern, and having been tested in many studies with positive findings. As Dr. Eliaz indicated, there are multiple commercial suppliers of MCP that may vary in product details such as molecular mass. Many papers that tested MCP did not provide any detail regarding the supplier, indicative that people generally regard MCP from different sources as the same. In our recent studies (10, 11), we tested MCP obtained from Allergy Research Group with an average molecular mass of 30 kDa. We found in cultured mouse cardiac fibroblasts there was an inhibitory effect of MCP (1) on galectin-3-stimulated proliferation (10). A similar in vitro effect of MCP has been reported by a few studies (5, 14, 15). Another study that specified using MCP from Allergy Research Group showed beneficial effects in vivo (8). However, MCP treatment on two cardiomyopathy mouse models we studied showed no therapeutic benefits (10, 11). We agree with Dr. Eliaz that MCP products arc by far from standardized, and therefore one needs to be aware of multiple citrus pectin products that might not have the same effect as seen in published studies. In this context, MCP provided by PectaSol-C (P-MCP, ecoNugenics) with a molecular mass < 13 kDa may be superior, considering that MCP with smaller molecular sizes would have better absorption. However, whether MCP products differing in molecular massess have different absorption and offer different efficacy remain to be studied with head-to-head experimental design.
展开▼
