Int J Mol Sci
2016[Feb]; 17
(3
): 275
PMID26927062
show ga
Activation of an aberrant glycosylation pathway in cancer cells can lead to
expression of the onco-foetal sialyl-Tn (sTn) antigen. STn is a truncated
O-glycan containing a sialic acid ?-2,6 linked to GalNAc ?-O-Ser/Thr and is
linked with an adverse outcome and poor prognosis in cancer patients. The
biosynthesis of the sTn antigen has been linked to the expression of the
sialytransferase ST6GalNAc1, and also to mutations in and loss of heterozygosity
of the COSMC gene. sTn neo- or over-expression occurs in many types of epithelial
cancer including gastric, colon, breast, lung, oesophageal, prostate and
endometrial cancer. sTn is believed to be carried by a variety of glycoproteins
and may influence protein function and be involved in tumour development. This
review discusses how the role of sTn in cancer development and tumour cell
invasiveness might be organ specific and occur through different mechanisms
depending on each cancer type or subtype. As the sTn-antigen is expressed early
in carcinogenesis targeting sTn in cancer may enable the targeting of tumours
from the earliest stage.
free
free
free
