Abstract
Human colorectal cancers express various cancer-associated carbohydrate determinants such as Lewis Y or sialyl Lewis A, suggesting a considerable alteration in glycosyltransferase activities occurring upon malignant transformation. We investigated the mRNA amounts of fucosyltransferase (Fuc-T) and sialyltransferase (ST) isoenzymes, including Fuc-T III, IV, V, VI and VII and ST-3N, ST-30 and ST-4, in human colorectal cancer tissues by Northern blotting and RT-PCR. Regarding fucosyltransferases, mRNA of Fuc-T III and VI was not significantly altered, and only Fuc-T IV mRNA showed a moderate increase in cancer tissues when compared with adjacent non-malignant colonic epithelia taken from the same patient (273 ± 96%; p < 0.001). The moderate increase of Fuc-T IV message may be related to an enhanced expression of Lewis Y in colon cancer tissues. In the ST isoenzymes, mRNA for ST-3N remained unchanged, whereas that for ST-4 decreased significantly in cancer tissues, to 32 ± 29%, (p < 0.005). The most remarkable finding was that the message of ST-30 was prominently increased in cancer tissues compared with non-malignant colorectal mucosa. When further investigated by quantitative RT-PCR assays on a larger series of patients with colorectal cancers, the average increase in mRNA for ST-30 was 459 ± 200% compared with that in adjacent non-malignant epithelium (significant at p < 0.0001). The increase of ST-30 message was more prominent in the cancer tissues strongly expressing sialyl Lewis A than in the cancer tissues expressing sialyl Lewis A only weakly or moderately (significant at p < 0.05). The marked increase in the message of ST-30 is suggested to be related to an enhanced expression of sialylated carbohydrate determinants in colon cancer tissues including sialyl Lewis A, since the enzyme exhibited a significant activity against the type I chain carbohydrate substrate and produced the precursors for sialyl Lewis A synthesis, when its cDNA was expressed in Cos-7 cells. Int. J. Cancer 71:556-564, 1997 © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
