Review Article
Year: 2019 | Month: November | Volume: 6 | Issue: 11 | Pages: 487-495
Our Studies on Aberrant Glycosylation in Oral Cancer and Insights on Glycosylation as a Hallmark of Cancer
Bhairavi N. Vajaria1, Kinjal A. Patel1, Kruti A. Mehta1, Rasheedunnisa Begum2, Prabhudas S Patel1
1Molecular Oncology Laboratory, Cancer Biology Department, The Gujarat Cancer & Research Institute, Asarwa, Ahmedabad 380 016, Gujarat, India.
2Department of Biochemistry, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara 390005, Gujarat, India
Corresponding Author: Prabhudas S Patel
ABSTRACT
Progression of cancer is a multi-step process and involves sequential changes during neoplastic transformation. Aberrant glycosylation, a hallmark of cancer, aids in cancer cell survival, proliferation and metastasis, thus playing an important role in tumorigenesis. The present review describes our results on sialylation (total sialic acid, α-2,3 and α-2,6 sialoproteins, α-2,3 and α-2,6 sialyltransferases and sialidase) and fucosylation (fucose, fucoproteins, fucosyltransferase and α-L-fucosidase) alterations in tissues, blood and saliva of patients with oral precancerous conditions (OPC) and oral cancer patients, as well as post treatment follow-ups samples of oral cancer patients. The results depicted correlation of sialylation and fucosylation alterations with tumor initiation, progression and metastasis. The review also describes the mechanism of cancer associated aberrant glycosylation and highlights the involvement of glycogenes, which have been linked to various hallmark characteristics of cancer. This review supports the concept of glycosylation as a major hallmark of cancer and is an enabling characteristic for other hallmarks of cancer.
Key words: Glycosylation, Hallmark, Cancer, Sialylation, Fucosylation, Tumor antigens
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