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Glycans Against NK Tumor Immunity

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Glycoscience: Biology and Medicine
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Abstract

O-glycans are the cell-surface carbohydrates attached to membrane proteins through serine (Ser) or threonine (Thr). Recently, extensive investigation on O-glycans in cancer cells has revealed that there is a certain type of O-glycan that can promote cancer cell metastasis. Cancer cells expressing the O-glycans called core2 O-glycans exhibit a high ability to evade host tumor rejection systems by natural killer (NK) cells. Evasion from the NK tumor rejection systems by using core2 O-glycans facilitates the cancer cells to survive longer in host circulation. Core2 O-glycans expressing cancer cells thus increase the chance to invade other organs, thereby resulting in the promotion of metastasis. In this chapter, it is illustrated how core2 O-glycans in cancer cells evade host immune systems to promote metastasis.

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Correspondence to Shigeru Tsuboi .

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© 2014 Springer Japan

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Tsuboi, S. (2014). Glycans Against NK Tumor Immunity. In: Endo, T., Seeberger, P., Hart, G., Wong, CH., Taniguchi, N. (eds) Glycoscience: Biology and Medicine. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54836-2_190-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54836-2_190-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-54836-2

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