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Aberrant Glycosylation and its Correlation with Expression of GNTV and Matriptase in Malignant Melanoma
Author(s) -
Handerson T.,
Miyoshi E.,
Ueda M.,
Taniguchi N.,
Pawelek J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of cutaneous pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1600-0560
pISSN - 0303-6987
DOI - 10.1111/j.0303-6987.2005.320cl.x
Subject(s) - melanoma , metastasis , pathology , cancer research , immunohistochemistry , staining , extracellular matrix , biology , stain , cancer , medicine , biochemistry
Acetylglucosoaminyltransferase V (GNTV), an enzyme responsible for branching of asparagine‐linked oligosaccharides is associated with tumor invasion and metastasis. Beta1–6 branched oligosaccharides, detected with the lectin, LPHA, are associated with tumor progression in human breast and colon cancer. They were found to be common to 22 types of human cancers, and were particularly expressed in metastases. Matriptase is a proteolytic inducer of both the HGF/cmet and plasminogen activator pathways, highly associated with metastasis. A potential prometastatic effect of GNTV was found to be due to modification of active matriptase by adding beta1–6 GlcNAc branching. We investigated expression of LPHA, matriptase and GNTV in pathology specimens of primary invasive and metastatic malignant melanomas. Sequential sections were stained with anti‐GnT‐V, anti‐matriptase, or biotinylated LPHA. Our results showed variable staining patterns, from involving only small regions, to encompassing the entire tumor. The expression of all three markers was closely associated, suggesting that metastatic pathways might have been activated in the staining areas of these tumors. To our knowledge, this is the first report of matriptase expression in malignant melanoma, as well as the first demonstration of an association between matriptase, GNTV and beta 1,6‐branched oligosaccharides in vivo.