Abstract:Cornea is an important refractive interstitium for maintaining normal vision. There are no blood vessels and lymphatic vessels in cornea. But new capillaries will grow from the vascular network at the corneal limbus in pathological conditions, and then gradually invade the cornea to form corneal neovascularization. It affects vision and is one of the main causes of blindness. Corneal neovascularization is mainly associated with high risk factors such as inflammation, infection, trauma and corneal transplantation. Galectins belong to the lectin superfamily and are involved in inflammatory response, immune response, cell migration, cell adhesion and angiogenesis. In recent years, the effect of galectins on tumor neovascularization has been mainly studied, among which galectin-8 has been reported to be closely related to the occurrence and development of neovascularization. Recent studies have shown that galectin-8 may be involved in the formation of corneal neovascularization. Further understanding of the mechanism of galectin-8 in corneal neovascularization is expected to provide a novel target and direction for the treatment of corneal neovascularization.