Bresalier R S, Boland C R, Kim Y S
Gastroenterology. 1984 Jul;87(1):115-22.
Malignant tumors shed large numbers of cells into the circulation, only a small fraction of which actually produce distant metastases. The cells comprising these tumors may be heterogeneous in many respects including their biological behavior. Inasmuch as colonic epithelial cells secrete mucins that reflect the state of cell differentiation, and differences in mucin structure may be detected by selective lectin binding, we used fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated lectins and fluorescence microscopy to analyze mucins secreted by primary colon cancers and metastases. In this way we hoped to determine whether differences exist in the glycoconjugates produced by metastatic and nonmetastatic cell populations. Out studies demonstrated that, in a given primary cancer, the mucin produced differed from that made by its metastases. Thus the vast majority of cells in primary tumors produced mucin that was specifically labeled by fluorescent peanut agglutinin (14 of 16 tumors). In contrast, 72% (37 of 51) of metastatic tumors produced mucin that did not bind peanut agglutinin (p less than 0.001). Colon cancer cells with high metastatic potential may therefore produce mucins that lack an exposed oligosaccharide receptor for this lectin.
恶性肿瘤会向循环系统中释放大量细胞，但其中只有一小部分会真正形成远处转移。构成这些肿瘤的细胞在包括生物学行为在内的许多方面可能是异质性的。由于结肠上皮细胞分泌反映细胞分化状态的粘蛋白，并且通过选择性凝集素结合可以检测到粘蛋白结构的差异，我们使用异硫氰酸荧光素偶联凝集素和荧光显微镜来分析原发性结肠癌和转移灶分泌的粘蛋白。通过这种方式，我们希望确定转移性和非转移性细胞群体产生的糖缀合物是否存在差异。我们的研究表明，在特定的原发性癌症中，其产生的粘蛋白与其转移灶产生的粘蛋白不同。因此，原发性肿瘤中的绝大多数细胞产生的粘蛋白能被荧光花生凝集素特异性标记（16个肿瘤中有14个）。相比之下，72%（51个中的37个）的转移瘤产生的粘蛋白不与花生凝集素结合（P<0.001）。因此，具有高转移潜能的结肠癌细胞可能产生缺乏这种凝集素暴露寡糖受体的粘蛋白。
