發現子宮頸癌細胞表面唾液酸的變化

Altered sialylation of cervical cancers

我們均耳熟能詳了解到癌症細胞的醣化過程會改變（尤其是細胞表面的醣化作用），但其所代表的意義卻少有人研究，尤其在婦癌的領域中，所知甚少，所以我們在1999年左右，開始涉及這個題目。主要是為了研究婦科癌症其細胞的醣化作用改變，是否對於婦科癌症患者的預後有無相關的影響或是有無其他重要的意義存在。台灣當時仍以子宮頸癌為婦科癌症的大宗，所以我們就以這個國人最常見的婦科癌症做為切入點，來研究其相關性。本文就是介紹回顧我們過去研究唾液酸轉移酶轉變在子宮頸癌的角色，以及一些相關文獻的報告。

Altered glycosylation is found in all cancer cells, compared with normal cells. Sialic acid might be one of the most important molecules, since it is located on the terminal end of various kinds of oligosaccharides. Although this glycosylation of protein contributes to the half-life of circulating proteins, recent evidence shows it also contributes to the interaction between the cells. We found that overexpression of α 2,6-linked glycosylation and suppression of α 2,3-linked glycosylation in cervical cancer cells compared with normal cervix; however, when metastases of the cervical cancers occur, continuous overexpression of α 2,6-linked glycosylation but reverse overexpression of α 2,3-linked glycosylation is found in the cervical cancers, supposing that dynamic alternation of glycosylation might be important for tumor invasion and metastases.