Structural Characterization of Mucin O-Glycosylation May Provide Important Information to Help Prevent Colorectal Tumor Recurrence.
Although colorectal cancer is a preventable and curable disease if early stage tumors are removed, it still represents the second cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Surgical resection is the only curative treatment but once operated the patient is either subjected to adjuvant chemotherapy or not, depending on the invasiveness of the cancer and risks of recurrence. In this context, we investigated, by mass spectrometry (MS), alterations in the repertoire of glycosylation of mucins from colorectal tumors of various stages, grades, and recurrence status. Tumors were also compared with their counterparts in resection margins from the same patients and with healthy controls. The obtained data showed an important decrease in the level of expression of sialylated core 3-based O-glycans in tumors correlated with an increase in sialylated core 1 structures. No correlation was established between stages of the tumor samples and mucin O-glycosylation. However, with the notable exception of sialyl Tn antigens, tumors with recurrence presented a milder alteration of glycosylation profile than tumors without recurrence. These results suggest that mucin O-glycans from tumors with recurrence might mimic a healthier physiological situation, hence deceiving the immune defense system.
Structural and Functional Glycobiology Unit, UMR CNRS 8576, University of Lille , Villeneuve d'Ascq , France ; Service d'Anatomie Pathologie, Faculté Libre de Médecine, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, Groupement des Hôpitaux de l'Institut Catholique de Lille , Lille , France.
Adriana
A
Mihalache
Structural and Functional Glycobiology Unit, UMR CNRS 8576, University of Lille , Villeneuve d'Ascq , France.
Jean-François
JF
Delplanque
Structural and Functional Glycobiology Unit, UMR CNRS 8576, University of Lille , Villeneuve d'Ascq , France.
Bélinda
B
Ringot-Destrez
Structural and Functional Glycobiology Unit, UMR CNRS 8576, University of Lille , Villeneuve d'Ascq , France.
Cindy
C
Wavelet
Service d'Anatomie Pathologie, Faculté Libre de Médecine, Hôpital Saint Vincent de Paul, Groupement des Hôpitaux de l'Institut Catholique de Lille , Lille , France.
Pierre
P
Gosset
Service Chirurgie Digestive, Faculté Libre de Médecine, Hôpital Saint Philibert, Groupement des Hôpitaux de l'Institut Catholique de Lille , Lille , France.
Bertrand
B
Nunes
Structural and Functional Glycobiology Unit, UMR CNRS 8576, University of Lille , Villeneuve d'Ascq , France.
Sophie
S
Groux-Degroote
Structural and Functional Glycobiology Unit, UMR CNRS 8576, University of Lille , Villeneuve d'Ascq , France.
Renaud
R
Léonard
Structural and Functional Glycobiology Unit, UMR CNRS 8576, University of Lille , Villeneuve d'Ascq , France.
Catherine
C
Robbe-Masselot
colorectal cancer; glycosylation; human intestinal mucins; prognosis; recurrence