The
glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) have documented implications for the growth and progression of malignant
tumors. Gastrointestinal
carcinomas (gastric, colon, rectum and pancreatic) are the most frequent
malignancies occurring in human. GAGs, isolated from the tissues after digestion with
papain, were analyzed by high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE) following treatment with
chondroitinase ABC. The composition of GAGs in
disaccharides derived from the various gastrointestinal
carcinomas was compared with those of normal tissues. We report that human gastrointestinal
carcinomas are characterized by increased concentrations of GAGs, which have quite different
disaccharide composition which, in turn, is associated with marked increase of non-sulfated (Delta(di)-nonS) and 6-sulfated (Delta(di)-mono6S) Delta-
disaccharides. Particularly, a 12-51-fold increase in Delta(di)-nonS and a 3-42-fold increase in Delta(di)-mono6S content characterize these
carcinomas, while the 4-sulfated units (Delta(di)-mono4S) showed a lower increase, about 0.5-1.5-fold. Moreover, the quantitation of
hyaluronan (HA)-derived Delta-
disaccharides (Delta(di)-nonS(HA)) also revealed a marked increase (1-12-fold) in the malignant tissues. On the other hand, the content of the
chondroitinase ABC-resistant GAGs showed a low decrease, about 0.2-0.7-fold. The high amounts of
hyaluronan (HA) produced by these
carcinomas and the ectopic production of
chondroitin sulphate (CS)
proteoglycans, in which (Delta(di)-nonS) and (Delta(di)-mono6S) predominated, suggest a close relation between the content of these GAGs and the malignant phenotype, the metastatic ability and the survival time.