Functional Analysis of O-GlcNAcylation in Cancer Metastasis

Donglu Wu; Jingji Jin; Zhidong Qiu; Da Liu; Haoming Luo

doi:10.3389/fonc.2020.585288

Functional Analysis of O-GlcNAcylation in Cancer Metastasis

Front Oncol. 2020 Oct 27:10:585288. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2020.585288. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Donglu Wu^{1

2}, Jingji Jin³, Zhidong Qiu^{2

3}, Da Liu^{2

3}, Haoming Luo^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Clinical Medical, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China.
² Key Laboratory of Effective Components of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China.
³ School of Pharmacy, Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, Changchun, China.

Abstract

One common and reversible type of post-translational modification (PTM) is the addition of O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) modification (O-GlcNAcylation), and its dynamic balance is controlled by O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and glycoside hydrolase O-GlcNAcase (OGA) through the addition or removal of O-GlcNAc groups. A large amount of research data confirms that proteins regulated by O-GlcNAcylation play a pivotal role in cells. In particularly, imbalanced levels of OGT and O-GlcNAcylation have been found in various types of cancers. Recently, increasing evidence shows that imbalanced O-GlcNAcylation directly or indirectly impacts the process of cancer metastasis. This review summarizes the current understanding of the influence of O-GlcNAc-proteins on the regulation of cancer metastasis. It will provide a theoretical basis to further elucidate of the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer emergence and progression.

Keywords: O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT); O-GlcNAcylation; cancer metastasis; post-translational modifications (PTMs); transcriptional factors.

Publication types

Review