PMID: 6403518Mar 25, 1983Paper

Enzymatic basis for changes in fucoganglioside during chemical carcinogenesis. Induction of a specific alpha-fucosyltransferase and status of an alpha-galactosyltransferase in precancerous rat liver and hepatoma.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry
E Holmes, S Hakomori

Abstract

Previous studies indicated that accumulation of alpha-fucosyl-GM1 (IV2FucII3NeuAcGgOse4Cer) and alpha-galactosyl-alpha-fucosyl-GM1 (IV3GalIV2FucII3NeuAcGgOse4Cer) occurs in precancerous livers of rats fed the chemical carcinogen N-2-acetylaminofluorene, before development of hepatoma. Both fucogangliosides were completely absent in normal rat liver as well as in livers of rats fed a nonhepatic carcinogen and tumor promoters (Holmes, E.H., and Hakomori, S. (1982) J. Biol. Chem. 257, 7698-7703). The enzymatic basis of the chemical changes described above is reported in this paper. The alpha-L-fucosyltransferase activity toward GM1 (II2NeuAcGgOse4Cer) as well as asialo-GM1 (GgOse4Cer) was almost undetectable in extracts from normal rat liver, but significant activity of this enzyme was detected in extracts of rat livers after 4 weeks of feeding a diet containing N-2-acetylaminofluorene. The same enzyme activity in cultured rat hepatoma cells was 18- to 47-fold higher than in N-2-acetylaminofluorene-fed rat liver. In contrast, alpha-galactosyltransferase activity with a broad substrate specificity was detected in normal as well as in N-2-acetylaminofluorene-fed liver, although the specific activity of this enzyme in Golgi membranes...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

ASBMB Publications

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) includes the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, and the Journal of Lipid Research. Discover the latest research from ASBMB here.