Elevation of ST6Gal I Activity in Malignant and Transitional Tissue in Human Colorectal Cancer

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Abstract
The aim of the present study was to investigate the activity of CMP-NeuAc:Galbeta(1,4)GlcNAc sialyltransferase (ST6Gal I) in colorectal cancer (CRC). ST6Gal I activity was determined in healthy, transitional and tumor tissues from the same patient using asialotransferrin and N-acetyllactosamine as acceptors. ST6Gal I activities with asialotransferrin (n = 85) and N-acetyllactosamine (n = 40) as acceptors were statistically significantly enhanced in CRC tissue compared with healthy mucosa from the same patient (p = 0.001). Using transitional tissue (n = 27), enhancement versus healthy tissue was observed (p < 0.05). A positive correlation was found between ST6Gal I activity with N-acetyllactosamine and asialotransferrin in healthy (n = 32), tumorous (n = 32) and transitional tissue (n = 27), supporting the fact that the same enzyme was detected using both acceptors. Furthermore, we studied the relationship between some patients' clinicopathological features and ST6Gal I activity. Although the differences were not statistically significant, the levels of ST6Gal I activity in tumorous and transitional tissues varied with the histological grade of the tumor; however, we failed to find a correlation with the AJCC tumor classification. This work reports enhanced ST6Gal I activity in tumor and transitional tissues from CRC patients. However, our overall results suggest that ST6Gal I activity is not indicative of the patient's outcome.