Ugorski Maciej, Laskowska Anna
Laboratory of Glycobiology, Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław.
Acta Biochim Pol. 2002;49(2):303-11.
Neoplastic transformation is often associated with characteristic changes in the expression of the sialyl Lewis(a) and sialyl Lewis(x) antigens, representing typical tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens. High amounts of sialyl Lewis(a) are present in human adenocarcinomas of the colon, pancreas and stomach. A growing amount of data suggests that this carbohydrate structure is the ligand for E-selectin. Sialylated Lewis structures present on the surface of tumor cells are carried by the carbohydrate chains of glycoproteins and glycolipids. There are several lines of evidence showing that sialyl Lewis(a) is responsible for the adhesion of human cancer cells to endothelium. E-selectin present on endothelial cells mediates these interactions. Selectins and their carbohydrate ligands can thus play an important role in the selective homing of tumor cells during metastasis. However, the presence of sialyl Lewis(a) antigen on the surface of tumor cells and their adhesion to E-selectin-expressing cells in in vitro adhesion assay by itself can not be directly related to metastatic properties of all cancer cells.
肿瘤转化通常与唾液酸化路易斯（a）和唾液酸化路易斯（x）抗原表达的特征性变化相关，这些抗原代表典型的肿瘤相关碳水化合物抗原。在人类结肠、胰腺和胃的腺癌中存在大量的唾液酸化路易斯（a）。越来越多的数据表明，这种碳水化合物结构是E-选择素的配体。肿瘤细胞表面存在的唾液酸化路易斯结构由糖蛋白和糖脂的糖链携带。有几条证据表明，唾液酸化路易斯（a）负责人类癌细胞与内皮细胞的黏附。内皮细胞上存在的E-选择素介导这些相互作用。因此，选择素及其碳水化合物配体在肿瘤细胞转移过程中的选择性归巢中可发挥重要作用。然而，在体外黏附试验中，肿瘤细胞表面唾液酸化路易斯（a）抗原的存在及其与表达E-选择素细胞的黏附本身并不能直接与所有癌细胞的转移特性相关。
