Hypersialylation promotes tumor immune escape

Abstract

Sialylation is one type of glycosylation that adds sialic acid residues to the tip of glycans in glycoprotein or glycolipid on cell membrane and participates in many critical cellular processes via cell-cell contact. The level of sialylation is usually elevated during carcinogenesis. Increased sialic acid could interact with Siglecs on the surface of immune cells, and thus induce immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment and tumor immune escape. It is believed that sialic acid-Siglecs can be served as novel immune checkpoints and bring hope to the development of immunotherapy in the future. Key words: Sialic acid; Cancer; Immune escape; Siglec