LGALS1 and arthritic joint disease: Early evidence for the potential of Gal-1 therapeutic applications came from several experiments with rodent models (Levi et al., 1983; Offner et al., 1990; Santucci et al., 2003), as well as from evidence of low expression levels of Gal-1 and increased anti-Gal-1 antibodies in human patients with diverse forms of arthritis (Harjacek et al., 2001; Xibillé-Friedmann et al., 2013).