Laboratory of Virology, College of Pharmacy, Chung‑Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea.
Breast and Thyroid Cancer Center, Ewha Womans University Cancer Center for Women, Seoul 07985, Republic of Korea.
J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2020 Sep 28;30(9):1297-1304. doi: 10.4014/jmb.2006.06007.
Elevated serum levels of alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP) are known to be associated with several types of cancer. In addition, some reports have indicated that changes in glycosylation of AGP are associated with cancer progression. However, changes in AGP levels of serum and changes in glycosylation of AGPs in breast cancer have not been specifically studied. In the present study, serum AGP levels in benign (BN) cancer and breast cancer stage I (BC I), BC IIA, BC IIB, and BC III in Korean women were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). AGP was purified from individual sera by hot phenol extraction and then subjected to AGP glycosylation analysis. Three types of AGP glycosylation (fucosylation, high-mannose-type and sialylation) were detected using enzyme-linked lectin assays (ELLAs). Serum AGP levels were higher in BC I, BC IIA, BC IIB, and BC III, than in the BN group, and the level in BC I and BC IIA was high enough to be distinguished from BN. Meanwhile, terminal fucosylation and high-mannose-type glycans appeared to be lowest in BC I. The glycosylation levels of BC I provide sensitivity and specificity that make BC I clearly distinguishable from BC IIA, BC IIB, and BC III as well as BN. Therefore, determination of serum AGP or AGP glycosylation level could be useful for detecting the early stages of breast cancer.
血清α-1-酸性糖蛋白（AGP）水平升高与多种类型的癌症有关。此外，一些报告表明，AGP 糖基化的变化与癌症的进展有关。然而，乳腺癌患者血清 AGP 水平的变化和 AGP 糖基化的变化尚未得到专门研究。本研究采用酶联免疫吸附试验（ELISA）检测韩国女性良性（BN）癌和乳腺癌Ⅰ期（BC I）、BC IIA、BC IIB 和 BC III 患者的血清 AGP 水平。AGP 从个体血清中用热酚提取法纯化，然后进行 AGP 糖基化分析。采用酶联凝集素试验（ELLA）检测三种类型的 AGP 糖基化（岩藻糖基化、高甘露糖型和唾液酸化）。与 BN 组相比，BC I、BC IIA、BC IIB 和 BC III 患者的血清 AGP 水平较高，BC I 和 BC IIA 的水平高到足以与 BN 区分开来。同时，BC I 中的末端岩藻糖基化和高甘露糖型聚糖似乎最低。BC I 的糖基化水平具有敏感性和特异性，使其能够与 BC IIA、BC IIB 和 BC III 以及 BN 明显区分开来。因此，测定血清 AGP 或 AGP 糖基化水平可能有助于检测乳腺癌的早期阶段。
