Overexpression of GalNAc-transferase GalNAc-T3 Promotes Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth

Authors

• Keisuke Taniuchi, University of Nebraska Medical Center
• Ronald Cerny, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
• Aki Tanouchi, Kochi University Medical School
• Kimitoshi Kohno, University of Occupational and Environmental Health School of Medicine
• Norihiro Kotani, Kochi University Medical School
• Koichi Honke, Kochi University Medical School
• Toshiji Saibara, Kochi University Medical School
• Michael A. Hollingsworth, University of Nebraska Medical Center

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2011

Citation

Oncogene. 2011 December 8; 30(49): 4843–4854.

Comments

Copyright 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited

Abstract

O-linked glycans of secreted and membrane bound proteins play an important role in the pathogenesis of pancreatic cancer by modulating immune responses, inflammation, and tumorigenesis. A critical aspect of O-glycosylation, the position at which proteins are glycosylated with N-acetyl-galactosamine on serine and threonine residues, is regulated by the substrate specificity of UDP-GalNAc: polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyl-transferases (GalNAc-Ts). Thus, GalNAc-Ts regulate the first committed step in O-glycosylated protein biosynthesis, determine sites of O-glycosylation on proteins, and are important for understanding normal and carcinoma-associated O-glycosylation. We have found that one of these enzymes, GalNAc-T3, is overexpressed in human pancreatic cancer tissues, and suppression of GalNAc-T3 significantly attenuates growth of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. In addition, suppression of GalNAc-T3 induces apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells. Our results indicate that GalNAc-T3 is likely to be involved in pancreatic carcinogenesis. Modification of cellular glycosylation occurs in nearly all types of cancer as a result of alterations in the expression levels of glycosyltransferases. We report guanine nucleotide binding protein, alpha transducing activity polypeptide 1 (GNAT1) as a possible substrate protein of GalNAc-T3. GalNAc-T3 is associated with O-glycosylation of GNAT1, and affects the subcellular distribution of GNAT1. Knocking down endogenous GNAT1 significantly suppresses the growth/survival of PDAC cells. Our results imply that GalNAc-T3 contributes to the function of O-glycosylated proteins and thereby affects the growth and survival of pancreatic cancer cells. Thus, substrate proteins of GalNAc-T3 should serve as important therapeutic targets for pancreatic cancers.