Simple sugars to complex disease--mucin-type O-glycans in cancer.
Mucin-type O-glycans are a class of glycans initiated with N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) α-linked primarily to Ser/Thr residues within glycoproteins and often extended or branched by sugars or saccharides. Most secretory and membrane-bound proteins receive this modification, which is important in regulating many biological processes. Alterations in mucin-type O-glycans have been described across tumor types and include expression of relatively small-sized, truncated O-glycans and altered terminal structures, both of which are associated with patient prognosis. New discoveries in the identity and expression of tumor-associated O-glycans are providing new avenues for tumor detection and treatment. This chapter describes mucin-type O-glycan biosynthesis, altered mucin-type O-glycans in primary tumors, including mechanisms for structural changes and contributions to the tumor phenotype, and clinical approaches to detect and target altered O-glycans for cancer treatment and management.
Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Matthew R
MR
Kudelka
Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Tongzhong
T
Ju
Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Jamie
J
Heimburg-Molinaro
Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Electronic address: rdcummi@emory.edu.
Richard D
RD
Cummings
D000818:Animals; D018450:Disease Progression; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
D011134:Polysaccharides
Blood group; Cancer; Carbohydrate; GalNAc; Glycan; Glycosylation; Golgi; Mucin; Tn; Tumor