title: Biosynthetic Machinery Involved in Aberrant Glycosylation: Promising Targets for Developing of Drugs Against Cancer.
abstract: Cancer cells depend on altered metabolism and nutrient uptake to generate and keep the malignant phenotype. The hexosamine biosynthetic pathway is a branch of glucose metabolism that produces UDP-GlcNAc and its derivatives, UDP-GalNAc and CMP-Neu5Ac and donor substrates used in the production of glycoproteins and glycolipids. Growing evidence demonstrates that alteration of the pool of activated substrates might lead to different glycosylation and cell signaling. It is already well established that aberrant glycosylation can modulate tumor growth and malignant transformation in different cancer types. Therefore, biosynthetic machinery involved in the assembly of aberrant glycans are becoming prominent targets for anti-tumor drugs. This review describes three classes of glycosylation, O-GlcNAcylation, N-linked, and mucin type O-linked glycosylation, involved in tumor progression, their biosynthesis and highlights the available inhibitors as potential anti-tumor drugs.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.
authors.forename: Andréia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vasconcelos-Dos-Santos
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.
authors.forename: Isadora A
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.
authors.forename: Miguel Clodomiro
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lucena
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.
authors.forename: Natalia Rodrigues
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Mantuano
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Cardiovascular Proteomics Center, Boston University School of Medicine , Boston, MA , USA.
authors.forename: Stephen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Whelan
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.
authors.forename: Wagner Barbosa
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro , Rio de Janeiro , Brasil.
authors.forename: Adriane Regina
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Todeschini
keywords: N-linked glycan; O-linked glycan; cancer; glycans; glycoconjugate; glycosyltransferases; hexosamine biosynthetic pathway; inhibitors