Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers constitute the largest portion of all human cancers, and the most prevalent GI cancers in China are colorectal cancer (CRC), gastric cancer (GC), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Exosomes are nanosized vesicles containing proteins, lipids, glycans, and nucleic acid, which play important roles in the tumor microenvironment and progression. Aberrant glycosylation is closely associated with GI cancers; however, little is known about the glycopattern of the exosomes from GI cancer cells. In this study, glycopatterns of HCC, CRC, and GC cell lines and their exosomes were detected using lectin microarrays. For all exosomes, (GlcNAcβ1-4)n and Galβ1-4GlcNAc (DSA) were the most abundant glycans, but αGalNAc and αGal (GSL-II and SBA) were the least. Different cancers had various characteristic glycans in either cells or exosomes. Glycans altered in cell-derived exosomes were not always consistent with the host cells in the same cancer. However, Fucα1-6GlcNAc (core fucose) and Fucα1-3(Galβ1-4)GlcNAc (AAL) were altered consistently in cells and exosomes although they were decreased in HCC and CRC but increased in GC. The study drew the full-scale glycan fingerprint of cells and exosomes related to GI cancer, which may provide useful information for finding specific biomarkers and exploring the underlying mechanism of glycosylation in exosomes.
Keywords: exosome; gastrointestinal cancer; glycopattern; lectin microarray.