Overexpression of glycosylated proteins in cervical cancer recognized by the Machaerocereus eruca agglutinin.

In cervical cancer, glycosylation has been suggested as being involved in both its carcinogenesis and invasive capacity. In this work, we analyzed mucin type O-glycosylation in biopsies of invasive cervical cancer in FIGO stage II B through histochemistry using lectins specific for O-glycosidically linked glycans. Our results reveal that the lectin Machaerocereus eruca (MeA, specific for Gal in a Fucα1,2 (GalNAcα1,3) Galβ1,4) showed increased recognition of tumoral cells and tumoral stroma tissue compared to other lectins with similar specificity; healthy cervical tissue was negative for MeA. Trypsin treatment of recognized tissues abolished MeA's recognition;moreover, interaction of MeA was inhibited with oligosaccharides from mucin. As demonstrated by Western blot of 2-D electrophoresis, MeA recognized ten glycoproteins in the range from 122 to 42 kDa in cervical cancer lysates. The LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis of the MeAs' recognized peptides revealed that the latter matched mainly with the amino acid sequences of lamin A/C, vimentin, elongation factor 2, keratin 1, and beta actin. Our results suggest that MeA recognizes a complex of over-expressed O-glycosidically-linked proteins that play a relevant role in cervical cancer's invasive capacity. O-glycosylation participates in the disassembly of intercellular junctions favoring cancer progression.