Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Tumor Immunology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Institutes of Biology and Medical Sciences, Soochow University, Suzhou, China.
Liver Int. 2014 Jan;34(1):147-60. doi: 10.1111/liv.12265. Epub 2013 Jul 31.
BACKGROUNDS & AIMS: Glycosylation promoting or inhibiting tumour cell invasion and metastasis is of crucial importance in current cancer research. Tumour-associated carbohydrate antigens are predominantly expressed on the tumour cell surface. Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are members of the family. To perform glycosphingolipidomic assays on neutral GSLs obtained from solid hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and paired peritumoural tissues by linear ion trap quadrupole-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.
Qualitative and quantitative analysis of fucosylated neutral GSLs was performed in the positive ion mode on the LTQ-XL mass spectrometer and MALDI-TOF-MS.
A group of fucosylated neutral GSLs in HCC was found to be expressed higher in the tumour tissues, as their proportion in total cellular GSLs was 3.3-fold higher in the tumour tissues than in the peritumoural tissues (P < 0.01). Moreover, qualitative analysis of the aberrant fucosylated GSLs were completed, and seven types of fucosylated GSLs that contained terminal Fuca2Gal- structure were identified by mass spectrometry.
Our results may lead to improved immunotherapy of HCC and contribute to understanding the role of aberrant fucosylated GSLs in the development and progress of HCC in following studies.
糖基化促进或抑制肿瘤细胞侵袭和转移在当前癌症研究中至关重要。肿瘤相关碳水化合物抗原主要表达在肿瘤细胞表面。糖脂（GSLs）是其家族成员之一。本研究采用线性离子阱四极杆-电喷雾电离质谱（LTQ-XL）和基质辅助激光解析电离飞行时间质谱（MALDI-TOF-MS）对来自肝癌（HCC）组织和配对癌旁组织的中性 GSL 进行糖脂组学分析。
采用正离子模式在 LTQ-XL 质谱仪上对岩藻糖基化中性 GSL 进行定性和定量分析。
与癌旁组织相比，HCC 组织中一组岩藻糖基化中性 GSL 的表达明显升高，其在总细胞 GSL 中的比例高 3.3 倍（P < 0.01）。此外，还完成了对异常岩藻糖基化 GSL 的定性分析，并通过质谱鉴定出了 7 种含有末端 Fuca2Gal-结构的岩藻糖基化 GSL。
本研究结果可能有助于改善 HCC 的免疫治疗，并有助于在后续研究中了解异常岩藻糖基化 GSL 在 HCC 发生和发展中的作用。
