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2-6–Linked Sialic Acids on N-Glycans Modulate Carcinoma Differentiation In vivo

Glycobiology Research and Training Center and the Cancer Center, Departments of Medicine, Pathology, and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California

Requests for reprints: Ajit Varki, Glycobiology Research and Training Center, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, CMM-East Room 1086, La Jolla, CA 92093-0687. Phone: 858-534-2214; Fax: 858-534-5611; E-mail: varkiadmin{at}ucsd.edu.

Sialic acids on vertebrate cell surfaces mediate many biological roles. Altered expression of certain sialic acid types or their linkages can have prognostic significance in human cancer. A classic but unexplained example is enhanced 2-6-sialylation on N-glycans resulting from overexpression of the Golgi enzyme β-galactoside:2-6-sialyltransferase (ST6Gal-I). Previous data supporting a role for the resulting Sia2-3Galβ1-4GlcNAc (Sia6LacNAc) structure in tumor biology were based on in vitro studies in transfected carcinoma cells, in which increased Sia6LacNAc on β1-integrins enhanced their binding to ligands, and stimulated cell motility. Here, we examine for the first time the in vivo role of the ST6Gal-I enzyme in the growth and differentiation of spontaneous mammary cancers in mice transgenic for a mouse mammary tumor virus promoter–driven polyomavirus middle T antigen, a tumor in which β1-integrin function is important for tumorigenesis and in maintaining the proliferative state of tumor cells. Tumors induced in St6gal1-null animals were more differentiated compared with those in the wild-type background, both by histologic analysis and by protein expression profiles. Furthermore, we show the St6gal1-null tumors have selectively altered expression of genes associated with focal adhesion signaling and have decreased phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase, a downstream target of β1-integrins. This first in vivo evidence for a role of ST6Gal-I in tumor progression was confirmed using a novel approach, which conditionally restored St6gal1 in cell lines derived from the null tumors. These findings indicate a role for ST6Gal-I as a mediator of tumor progression, with its expression causing a less differentiated phenotype, via enhanced β1-integrin function. [Cancer Res 2008;68(2):388–94]

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