Glycobiology Advance Access published online on March 20, 2007
Glycobiology, doi:10.1093/glycob/cwm028
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Glycoengineering of
Gal xenoantigen on recombinant peptide bearing the J28 pancreatic oncofetal glycotope
2 Inserm UMR-777, Faculté de Médecine-Timone, 27 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France; Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France ; Cancéropôle PACA, Marseille, France
3 Lung Cancer Biology Group, Cancer Research UK, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospitals Campus, London, UK
1 To whom correspondence should be adressed; e-mail : Eric.Mas{at}medecine.univ-mrs.fr
Received on October 25, 2006; revised on March 7, 2007; accepted on March 7, 2007
In human pancreatic adenocarcinoma alterations of glycosylation processes leads to the expression of tumor-associated-carbohydrate antigens representing potential targets for cancer immunotherapy. Among these pancreatic tumor-associated-carbohydrate antigens, the J28 glycotope located within O-glycosylated mucin-like C-terminal domain of the fetoacinar pancreatic protein (FAPP) and expressed at the surface of human tumoral tissues, can be a good target for anticancer therapeutic vaccines. However, the oncodevelopmental self character of the J28 glycotope associated to the low immunogenicity of tumor-associated-carbohydrate antigens may be a major obstacle to effective anti-tumor vaccine therapy. In this study, we have investigated a method to increase the immunogenicity of the recombinant pancreatic oncofetal J28 glycotope by glycoengineering
Gal epitope which may be recognized by natural anti-
Gal antibody present in humans. For this purpose, we have developed a stable CHO cell clone expressing
Gal epitope by transfecting the cDNA encoding the
1,3Galactosyltransferase. These cells have been previously equipped to produce the recombinant O-glycosylated C-terminal domain of FAPP carrying the J28 glycotope. As a consequence the C-terminal domain of FAPP produced by these cells carries out the
Gal epitope on oligosaccharide structures associated with the J28 glycotope. Furthermore, we show that this recombinant «
1,3galactosyl and J28 glycotope » may be targeted by human natural anti-
Gal antibodies but also by the mAbJ28 suggesting that the J28 glycotope remains accessible to the immune system as vaccinating agent. This approach may be used for many identified tumor-associated-carbohydrate antigens which can be glycoengineered to carry
Gal epitope to increase their immunogenicity and to develop therapeutic vaccines.
Key words:
Pancreas
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Cancer
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Tumor-Associated-Carbohydrate Antigen
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Glycotope
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Gal epitope
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1,3 Galactosyltransferase