Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Doylestown, PA, USA.
Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2012 Jun;21(6):925-33. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-11-1183. Epub 2012 Apr 6.
Alterations in glycosylation have long been associated with the development of cancer. In the case of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one alteration that has often been associated is increased amounts of fucose attached to the N-glycans of serum proteins secreted by the liver.
In an effort to determine the origin of this increased fucosylation, we have conducted N-linked glycan analysis of HCC tissue, the surrounding nontumor tissue, and compared this to tissue from a nondiseased adult liver.
Surprisingly, no difference in the level of fucosylation was observed from the three donor groups, suggesting that the increased levels of fucosylation observed in serum of those with HCC is not the result of increased synthesis of fucosylated proteins in the cancer tissue. On the other hand, increased levels of a tetra-antennary glycan were observed in the HCC tissue as compared with the surrounding tissue or to the nondiseased livers.
This represents, to our knowledge, one of the first reports associating increased levels of branching with the development of HCC.
The identification of increased levels of tetra-antennary glycan on liver tumor tissue, as opposed to adjacent or nondiseased tissue may lead to improved detection of HCC.
糖基化的改变长期以来一直与癌症的发展有关。在原发性肝细胞癌（HCC）的情况下，经常与之一致的改变是肝脏分泌的血清蛋白的 N-糖链上附着的更多的岩藻糖。
为了确定这种增加的岩藻糖基化的起源，我们对 HCC 组织、周围非肿瘤组织进行了 N-连接糖链分析，并将其与非病变成人肝脏的组织进行了比较。
令人惊讶的是，三个供体组之间的岩藻糖基化水平没有差异，这表明 HCC 患者血清中观察到的增加的岩藻糖基化水平不是癌症组织中岩藻糖基化蛋白合成增加的结果。另一方面，与周围组织或非病变肝脏相比，HCC 组织中观察到四天线聚糖的水平增加。
据我们所知，这是首次将增加的分支程度与 HCC 的发展联系起来的报告之一。
与相邻或非病变组织相比，在肝肿瘤组织上识别出增加的四天线聚糖水平可能会导致 HCC 的检测得到改善。
