A group from Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, has reported that targeting Tn-antigen suppresses metastasis in breast Cancer.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcmm.70279
Tn antigen was prevalent in breast carcinomas, particularly within metastatic lesions. Tn antigen expression was positively correlated with lymph node metastasis and poorer patient survival. Tn antigen-expressing breast cancer cells exhibited enhanced invasiveness and metastasis, along with significant activation of EMT and FAK signaling pathways.
There was a significant downregulation of E-cadherin and ZO-1, both of which are canonical epithelial markers, along with a significant up-regulation of the mesenchymal markers, including ZEB-1, Vimentin, Snail, and Slug in both cells expressing Tn antigen
Targeting Tn-positive cancer cells with HPA demonstrated the suppression of invasive and metastatic capabilities. It is known that the lectin HPA specifically recognizes and binds the Tn antigen, whereas the lectin PNA only recognizes and binds T antigen. Compared to the PNA-treated control group, mice in HPA-treated group exhibited a significantly reduced number of pulmonary metastases. In addition, immunofluorescence analysis showed that HPA treatment reduced formation of cellular protrusions of Tn-positive cancer cells, whereas PNA showed no inhibitory effects. At the molecular level, the EMT and FAK signaling pathways were consistently inhibited in Tn-positive cancer cells treated with HPA.
