Significance of altered glycosyltransferase expression levels in oral cancer

Abstract

We evaluate the relative quantification of mRNA ex-pression levels of the gene encoding an enzyme that catal-yses initial step in glycosylation of dolichol-linked oligosaccharide such as dolichyl-phosphate N-acetyl-glucosaminephosphotransferase 1 (DPAGT1). Further-more, beta-1,4-mannosyl-glycoprotein 4-beta-N-acetyl-glucosaminyltransferase (MGAT3) and alpha-1,6-man-nosylglycoprotein 6-beta-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (MGAT5) mediated N-glycosylation, selected α2, 3, α2, 6 sialyltransferases families and sialidase by using the Real-Time Quantitative Reverse Transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). Thirty human oral cancer tissue samples and twelve control samples were examined. Results indi-cated significant upregulation of ST6 N-acetylgalactos-aminide alpha-2,6-sialyltransferase 1 (ST6GALNAC1) in oral cancer compared to controls. Additionally, the expressions of DPAGT1, MGAT3, MGAT5, ST3 beta-galactoside alpha-2,3-sialyltransferase 1 (ST3GAL1), ST6 beta-galactoside alpha-2,6-sialyltransferase 1 (ST6-GAL1), and ST6GALNAC1 were considerably higher in the tumour in tongue lesion compared to the buccal cavity. Hence, our experiment demonstrates significance of glycosyltransferases in the progression of oral cancer.