Additionally, in order to address any possible synergistic effect of galectin-3 and -9 (since we have found that these are the only two galectins, out of nine tested by us, which are upregulated and are likely released in Francisella infected lungs), we have already generated galectin-3/galectin-9 double knock-out mice and are currently analyzing them for sepsis development during bacterial infection. This evidence concerns the gene LGALS3 and Sepsis.