LGALS9 and preeclampsia: Thus, the gal-9/Tim-3 axis may provide a valuable target for clinical interventional immunotherapy for early-onset preeclampsia although the findings that the interaction of gal-9 with Tim-3 in innate immune cells such as monocytes and dendritic cells induces the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α and can synergize with Toll-like receptors should be taken into consideration (173).