There is evidence in the literature that Gal-1 can induce apoptosis of human synovial fluid neutrophils from rheumatoid arthritis patients (Cedeno-Laurent et al., 2010), which may indicate a divergence between the effects of Gal-1 on neutrophils in the periphery versus those that have trafficked to the inflammatory site. Here, LGALS1 is linked to rheumatoid arthritis.