TY - JOUR
T1 - Fucosylated Antigens in Cancer
T2 - An Alliance toward Tumor Progression, Metastasis, and Resistance to Chemotherapy
AU - Blanas, Athanasios
AU - Sahasrabudhe, Neha M
AU - Rodríguez, Ernesto
AU - van Kooyk, Yvette
AU - van Vliet, Sandra J
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Aberrant glycosylation of tumor cells is recognized as a universal hallmark of cancer pathogenesis. Overexpression of fucosylated epitopes, such as type I (H1, Lewisa, Lewisb, and sialyl Lewisa) and type II (H2, Lewisx, Lewisy, and sialyl Lewisx) Lewis antigens, frequently occurs on the cancer cell surface and is mainly attributed to upregulated expression of pertinent fucosyltransferases (FUTs). Nevertheless, the impact of fucose-containing moieties on tumor cell biology is not fully elucidated yet. Here, we review the relevance of tumor-overexpressed FUTs and their respective synthesized Lewis determinants in critical aspects associated with cancer progression, such as increased cell survival and proliferation, tissue invasion and metastasis, endothelial to mesenchymal transition, endothelial and immune cell interaction, angiogenesis, multidrug resistance, and cancer stemness. Furthermore, we discuss the potential use of enhanced levels of fucosylation as glycan biomarkers for early prognosis, diagnosis, and disease monitoring in cancer patients.
AB - Aberrant glycosylation of tumor cells is recognized as a universal hallmark of cancer pathogenesis. Overexpression of fucosylated epitopes, such as type I (H1, Lewisa, Lewisb, and sialyl Lewisa) and type II (H2, Lewisx, Lewisy, and sialyl Lewisx) Lewis antigens, frequently occurs on the cancer cell surface and is mainly attributed to upregulated expression of pertinent fucosyltransferases (FUTs). Nevertheless, the impact of fucose-containing moieties on tumor cell biology is not fully elucidated yet. Here, we review the relevance of tumor-overexpressed FUTs and their respective synthesized Lewis determinants in critical aspects associated with cancer progression, such as increased cell survival and proliferation, tissue invasion and metastasis, endothelial to mesenchymal transition, endothelial and immune cell interaction, angiogenesis, multidrug resistance, and cancer stemness. Furthermore, we discuss the potential use of enhanced levels of fucosylation as glycan biomarkers for early prognosis, diagnosis, and disease monitoring in cancer patients.
U2 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2018.00039
DO - https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2018.00039
M3 - Review article
C2 - 29527514
SN - 2234-943X
VL - 8
SP - 39
JO - Frontiers in Oncology
JF - Frontiers in Oncology
ER -