Reduced αGlcNAc glycosylation on gastric gland mucin is a biomarker of malignant potential for gastric cancer, Barrett's adenocarcinoma, and pancreatic cancer.

Reduced αGlcNAc glycosylation on gastric gland mucin is a biomarker of malignant potential for gastric cancer, Barrett's adenocarcinoma, and pancreatic cancer. Histochem Cell Biol. 2018 Apr 16;: Authors: Yamanoi K, Nakayama J Abstract Gastric gland mucin secreted from pyloric gland cells, mucous neck cells, and cardiac gland cells of the gastric mucosa harbors unique O-glycans carrying terminal α1,4-linked N-acetylglucosamine residues (αGlcNAc), which are primarily attached to the scaffold mucin core protein MUC6. αGlcNAc acts as an antibiotic against Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a microbe causing gastric cancer. In addition, mice deficient in A4gnt, which encodes the enzyme α1,4-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (α4GnT) that catalyzes αGlcNAc biosynthesis, spontaneously develop gastric differentiated-type adenocarcinoma, even if not infected by H. pylori. Thus, αGlcNAc prevents gastric cancer as both an antibiotic and a tumor suppressor (Nakayama in Acta Histochem Cytochem 47:1-9, 2014b). Indeed, in humans αGlcNAc loss on MUC6 in differentiated-type adenocarcinoma is closely associated with poor patient prognosis (Shiratsu et al. in Cancer Sci 105:126-133, 2014). Recently, we reported reduced αGlcNAc expression on MUC6 in both pyloric gland adenoma of the stomach and chronic atrophic gastritis, in Barrett's esophagus, and in pancreatic intraductal papillary-mucinous neoplasm (IPMN)/pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (P...
Source: Acta Histochemica - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Histochem Cell Biol Source Type: research