Premium
α‐2,3‐sialyltransferase type 3N and α‐1,3‐fucosyltransferase type VII are related to sialyl Lewis x synthesis and patient survival from lung carcinoma
Author(s) -
Ogawa Junichi,
Inoue Hiroshi,
Koide Shirosaku
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.052
H-Index - 304
eISSN - 1097-0142
pISSN - 0008-543X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19970501)79:9<1678::aid-cncr7>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - fucosyltransferase , fucosylation , medicine , carcinoma , sialyltransferase , lung cancer , fucose , staining , gene , cancer research , pathology , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , biochemistry , glycoprotein
Abstract BACKGROUND Biosynthesis of sialyl Lewis x (sLe x ) requires a sialyltransferase for α‐2,3‐sialylation and a fucosyltransferase for α‐1,3‐fucosylation. To date, five human α‐1,3‐fucosyltransferase ( Fuc‐T ) genes and five human α‐2,3‐sialyltransferase ( ST ) genes have been cloned. However, it is not known which enzyme is mainly responsible for sLe x synthesis. METHODS Three hundred thirteen patients with nonsmall cell lung carcinoma who had a curative tumor resection were the subjects of this study. Using tumor tissues fixed in formaldehyde, amplification of genomic DNA of Fuc‐T and ST was performed by PCR and correlated with sLe x staining and patient prognosis. RESULTS The frequency of strong ST3N and Fuc‐TVII amplification was significantly higher than that of STZ, ST4, Fuc‐TIII, Fuc‐TV, and Fuc‐TVI amplification ( P < 0.01). The frequency of sLe x staining was similar to ST3N and Fuc‐TVII amplification. Survival of the patients whose tumors had strong amplification of both ST3N and Fuc‐TVII was significantly shorter than that of patients whose tumors had no amplification of either gene ( P < 0.01). In a multivariate analysis of survival, Fuc‐TVII remained a statistically significant prognostic factor. CONCLUSIONS In lung carcinoma, ST3N and Fuc‐TVII may both be related to sLe x synthesis, and Fuc‐TVII is a more important indicator of poor prognosis. Cancer 1997; 79:1678‐85. © 1997 American Cancer Society.