Cancer Cell Lewis X Plays a Minor Role in NK Cell Immune Evasion
Production of aberrant glycans by cancer cells constitutes a key immunosuppressive strategy to avoid destruction by immune cells. Although sialic acid-containing glycans are known to dampen the activation of lymphocytes, including Natural Killer (NK) cells, the role of fucose-containing glycans remains poorly characterized. In this work, we explored the role of Lewis X (LeX) in cancer cell-NK…
In a study exploring the role of carbohydrate structures on cancer cells' ability to evade immune cells, researchers discovered that fucose-containing glycans, as opposed to sialic acid-containing glycans, have a minor impact on how cancer cells escape destruction by Natural Killer (NK) cells. By enhancing the production of a specific carbohydrate structure (LeX) in two colorectal cancer cell lines, scientists found that this enzyme only created LeX structures and not sialyl-LeX.
The introduction of FUT9 did not alter the display of MHC class I or CD2 binding to cancer cells. Even when fucosylation was inhibited, CD2 binding remained independent of fucosylated glycans on the cell surface in three different cell lines. Moreover, the findings suggest that the expression of activation markers by NK cells and the destruction of cancer cells are only minimally affected by FUT9/LeX.
Therefore, contrary to sialylated glycans, 1-3/4-fucosylated glycans have a limited effect on cancer cells' evasion of NK cell-mediated destruction.
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