On the other hand, STn-positive proteins offer the possibility to target more specific pathological mechanisms

On the other hand, STn-positive proteins offer the possibility to target more specific pathological mechanisms. ST6GalNAc I is able to compete with gene were explained in STn-positive melanoma and colon cancer cell lines, as well as with tissue samples from two STn-positive cervical cancers [8]. PF 3716556 However, considerable studies of mutations in breast or colon cancers showed that these events were rare and could only account for some of the instances of STn manifestation in cancers [9]. Thus, STn manifestation in malignancy is definitely most probably due to over-expression of ST6GalNAc I, with enhancing effects of improved synthesis of precursors (reported that ovarian mucinous cancers were more likely to be uniformly stained than ovarian serous cancers [52]. Lopez-Ferrer the rules of its carrier(s). All together, these observations suggest that STn manifestation could be correlated with the invasive and aggressive potential of epithelial malignancy cells, when indicated at the right time and ideal place. 3.3.5. Association with Invasiveness For a majority of the authors, STn manifestation detected in cells and/or PF 3716556 sera samples of individuals with gastric cancers was correlated with depth of invasion [25,42,72,73,74,75,76], lymph vessel and venous invasion [65,72,73] and peritoneal dissemination [25,73]. Ikeda [40]. Therefore, sparse data for colorectal and breast cancer suggest that the effect of STn manifestation within the invasiveness of tumor cells might be an organ-specific trend. However, characterization of designed breast malignancy cell lines showed that STn manifestation induced a decreased adhesion, a decreased aggregation and an increased cell motility, all consistent with an increased invasiveness [6,81]. Whether or not these observations are relevant at the disease level for breast or colorectal cancers would require further investigations. 3.3.6. Detection Rabbit Polyclonal to Cyclin H in Serum Detection of tumor markers in serum is usually a simple, non-invasive and PF 3716556 sensitive method for diagnosis or post surgery follow-up of the patients. This is particularly useful for the care of patients with cancers in deep organs (stomach, colon, pancreas, biliary tract, ovaries or cervix), which are often asymptomatic at the earlier stage. The presence of STn antigen in serum is due to important did not find any correlation at all [66]. So, from a general point of view, it seems that STn expression is mostly associated with an adverse outcome. However, the numerous discrepancies and subtleties reviewed above suggest that if STn exerts any biological function promoting malignancy development, it occurs through various mechanisms depending on each cancer type or sub-type. 4. Immunotherapy Targeting STn The exploitation of the patients own immune system, i.e. immunotherapy, to control cancer growth rises as a stylish approach, offering the potential of enhancing the effects of conventional treatment such as post-surgery radiotherapy or chemotherapy, without substantially increasing toxicity. While boosting immune responses against cancer is obviously not sufficient to eradicate a solid tumor by itself, it might be crucial in the elimination of minimal residual PF 3716556 disease or micrometastases following primary treatment or in the prevention of transformation from a to a precancerous studies showed that this humoral responses induced by such peptides were still not sufficient to provide protection from a tumor challenge [126]. Comparative studies evaluating the humoral responses that are elicited based on the type of STn carrier are still necessary. Interestingly, we have found that desialylation of DCs potentiates the immune responses they brought on, in particular their unique capacity to primary Th cells [143]. PF 3716556 Concordantly, cancer cells expressing STn antigen tend to inhibit DC maturation and hinder subsequent T cell activation, when compared with parental cells lines with absent or low expression of STn [144] suggesting that STn-expressing cancer cells are prone to cause immune tolerance. Thus, to the immunological challenge of anti-STn immunization, one should include the identification of tools to fine tune the innate response and thus surpassing tolerogenic responses. Some approaches have actually been performed in that sense, which include the concomitant use of selected adjuvants and the use of Toll like receptor agonists such as CpG and BCG. However, many lessons are still to be learnt from vaccines.