?-2,3-sialyltransferase type 3N and ?-1,3-fucosyltransferase type VII are related to sialyl Lewisx synthesis and patient survival from lung carcinoma

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Biosynthesis of sialyl Lewisx (sLex) requires a sialyltransferase for α-2,3-sialylation and a fucosyltransferase for α-1,3-fucosylation. To date, five human α-1,3-fucosyltransferase (Fuc-T) genes and five human α-2,3-sialyltransferase (ST) genes have been cloned. However, it is not known which enzyme is mainly responsible for sLex synthesis. Three hundred thirteen patients with nonsmall cell lung carcinoma who had a curative tumor resection were the subjects of this study. Using tumor tissues fixed in formaldehyde, amplification of genomic DNA of Fuc-T and ST was performed by PCR and correlated with sLex staining and patient prognosis. The frequency of strong ST3N and Fuc-TVII amplification was significantly higher than that of STZ, ST4, Fuc-TIII, Fuc-TV, and Fuc-TVI amplification (P < 0.01). The frequency of sLex staining was similar to ST3N and Fuc-TVII amplification. Survival of the patients whose tumors had strong amplification of both ST3N and Fuc-TVII was significantly shorter than that of patients whose tumors had no amplification of either gene (P < 0.01). In a multivariate analysis of survival, Fuc-TVII remained a statistically significant prognostic factor. In lung carcinoma, ST3N and Fuc-TVII may both be related to sLex synthesis, and Fuc-TVII is a more important indicator of poor prognosis. Cancer 1997; 79:1678-85. © 1997 American Cancer Society.