Lewis x functions as an adhesion molecule in glycolipids and glycoproteins since it mediates homophilic and heterophilic attachment of normal and tumoral cells. During malignancy, altered glycosylation is a frequent event; accumulating data support the expression of Lewis x in tumors although controversial results have been described including its relationship with patient survival. This report has been developed as an introduction to the relationship between Lewis x expression and breast cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is an aggressive disease with poor prognosis without appropriate prognostic markers. Previous research shows that Lewis antigens have been involved in carcinoma dissemination and patients´ survival. Fucosyl and sialyltransferases are the enzymes implicated in the Lewis antigens synthesis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring the past years, molecular studies through high-throughput technologies have led to the confirmation of critical alterations in colorectal cancer (CRC) and the discovery of some new ones, including mutations, DNA methylations, and structural chromosomal changes. These genomic alterations might act in concert to dysregulate specific signaling pathways that normally exert their functions on critical cell phenotypes, including the regulation of cellular metabolism, proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Targeted therapy against key components of altered signaling pathways has allowed an improvement in CRC treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The glycoprotein MUC1 is overexpressed and underglycosylated in cancer cells. MUC1 is translated as a single polypeptide that undergoes autocleavage into 2 subunits (the extracellular domain and the cytoplasmic tail), and forms a stable heterodimer at the apical membrane of normal epithelial cells. The MUC1 cytoplasmic tail localizes to the cytoplasm of transformed cells and is targeted to the nucleus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: A descriptive study was developed in an entire Argentine rural community considering breast cancer risk factors, preventive strategies and breast cancer incidence.
Patients And Methods: the study comprised of 83 women. A questionnaire of 34 items was employed; a mammogram and a breast ultrasound were performed.
Aim: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies in Argentina with 11,043 new cases and 6,596 deaths estimated to have occurred in 2008. The present study was developed to clarify the differential expression of MUC1, MUC2, sLex, and sLea in colorectal cancer patients and their relationship with survival and clinical and histological features.
Methods: Ninety primary tumor samples and 43 metastatic lymph nodes from CRC patients were studied; follow-up was documented.
Breast cancer is the most common cause of cutaneous metastases from internal malignancies. Generally, the neoplastic cells are located in the dermis or hypodermis, while a finding of transepidermal elimination on cutaneous metastases is exceptional. In this report we present a patient with perforating cutaneous metastases from breast cancer with mucin 1 expression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to elucidate whether the IgG humoral immune response to breast cancer cells is directed to the aberrant mucin-1 (MUC1) associated to this type of cancer. To this aim, an adaptation of immunohistochemistry (IHC) was performed on samples of 45 breast cancer tissues, 12 benign disease tissues, and 31 normal tissues, incubated with matched serum samples from the same patients. Each serum sample was also incubated, with a modified immunocytochemistry (ICC), with MCF7 cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBreast Cancer (Dove Med Press)
December 2013
Objective: In breast cancer, several tumor markers have been identified. The marker most extensively associated with breast cancer is MUC1. The objective of the study was to analyze prognostic and risk factors in relation to tumor markers in order to clarify breast cancer biology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In cancer patients, MUC1 glycoprotein may carry Lewis y which could be involved in immune response.
Purposes: 1- to evaluate the presence of Lewis y and MUC1 in circulating immune complexes (Lewis y/CIC and MUC1/CIC, respectively) and their correlation; 2- to analyze the possible presence of Lewis y in carbohydrate chains of tumoral MUC1 glycoprotein and 3- to correlate serum and tissue parameters considered.
Methods: Pretreatment serum and tissue breast samples from 76 adenocarcinoma, 34 benign and 36 normal specimens were analyzed.
The aim was to compare the expression of MUC1 and carbohydrate antigens in 124 tissue samples; 42 fibroadenoma (FA), 23 nonproliferative benign diseases (NPF), 25 usual epithelial hyperplasia (UEH), 7 atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH), and 27 breast normal tissues. An immunohistochemical approach was adopted, using the following antibodies: reactive with MUC1 variable number of tandem repeats (C595, HMFG2, and SM3 monoclonal antibodies), anti-MUC1-cytoplasmic tail polyclonal antibody (CT33), and anti-carbohydrate antigens (sialyl Lewis x, Lewis x, Lewis y, Tn, and Thomsen-Friedenreich epitopes). Positive area of reaction, intensity, and pattern of expression were considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVet Immunol Immunopathol
July 2009
Many pathogens require direct binding to, or penetration of, mucosal cells to cause pathology. Cell surface mucins are critical components of mucosal defense. Mucin 1, named MUC1 in humans and Muc1 in non-human species, is a transmembrane glycoprotein expressed in apical mammalian epithelial tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Mucins are related to infectious and non-infectious diseases in Veterinary and Human Medicine. MUC1 mucin is a transmembrane glycoprotein expressed on the apical surface of human epithelia while MUC5AC is the predominant secreted mucin expressed in human gastric epithelium and goblet cells of lung and eyes. MUC5AC C-terminus cysteine rich regions and the cytoplasmic tail of MUC1 domains are conserved among several mammalian species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), tumor markers may be helpful to evaluate prognosis accurately as well as to improve therapy selection. Detection of human MUC1 has been widely employed for the evaluation of carcinoma patients. This article aims to study MUC1, Tn, sTn, and Lewis antigenic expression in primary HNSCC, lymph node metastasis, and local recurrences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn immunohistochemical analysis was employed to determine the expression of carbohydrate antigens associated to mucins in normal epithelia. Tissue samples were obtained as biopsies from normal breast (18), colon (35) and oral cavity mucosa (8). The following carbohydrate epitopes were studied: sialyl-Lewis x, Lewis x, Lewis y, Tn hapten, sialyl-Tn and Thomsen-Friedenreich antigen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Recent studies have demonstrated that members of the GATA-binding protein (GATA) family (GATA4 and GATA5) might have pivotal roles in the transcriptional upregulation of mucin genes (MUC2, MUC3 and MUC4) in gastrointestinal epithelium. The zinc-finger GATA3 transcription factor has been reported to be involved in the growth control and differentiation of breast epithelial cells. In SAGE (serial analysis of gene expression) studies we observed an intriguing significant correlation between GATA3 and MUC1 mRNA expression in breast carcinomas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: HNSCC progression to adjacent tissue and nodes may be mediated by altered glycoproteins and glycolipids such as MUC1 mucin. This report constitutes a detailed statistical study about MUC1 expression and anti-MUC1 immune responses in relation to different clinical and pathological parameters which may be useful to develop new anti HNSCC therapeutic strategies.
Patients And Methods: Fifty three pre treatment HNSCC patients were included: 26 (49.
To investigate the influence of sialic acid removal on MUC1 peptidic and carbohydrate epitope reactivity in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), tumor samples belonging to 24 HNSCC patients were studied by standard immunohistochemistry (IHC) with and without desialylation with 0.1 U/ml neuraminidase. From each tumor sample, subcellular fractions were obtained and analyzed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting (WB).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBreast Cancer Res Treat
October 2003
Tumor MUC1 expression as well as levels of MUC1, MUC1 circulating immune complexes (MUC1-CIC) and free antibodies against MUC1 (IgG and IgM-MUC1) were evaluated in 70 breast cancer patients with different stages of disease. Controls included: 135 serum samples from healthy women, normal mammary tissue samples (n = 7) and benign breast disease specimens (n = 6). In all assays, pre- and post-vaccination serum samples from breast cancer patients belonging to a vaccination protocol developed at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, USA) were included as controls.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOur aim was to determine the pattern of expression of MUC1 mucin cytoplasmic tail (MUC1 CT) in breast carcinoma. A total of 98 invasive breast adenocarcinoma tumor samples were assayed by immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis. The pattern of reaction was classified as membrane, cytoplasmic, or mixed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDrugs Today (Barc)
November 2002
Immunotherapy of human breast cancer is a rapidly growing experimental area based on peptidic as well as carbohydrate tumor-associated antigens. Cell surface carbohydrates are characteristic of different stages of normal development and differentiation; distinct carbohydrates are expressed in tissue- and cell-specific manners during those processes. Under pathological conditions such as neoplasia, changes in carbohydrate structures can almost always be present.
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