LGALS3 and infection: In contrast, galectin-3 apparently increases the susceptibility to infection with some Plasmodium species as galectin-3-deficient mice show reduced parasitaemia compared to wildtype mice when challenged with P. yoelii or P. chabaudi but not P. berghei. The galectin-3 knockout mice infected with P. yoelii were also able to raise higher Ab titers against Plasmodium antigens than the wildtype, suggesting that galectin-3 modulates the immune response against Plasmodium in a non-beneficial way (Toscano et al., 2012).