Malignant transformation is associated with aberrant N-glycosylation, but the role of
protein N-glycosylation in
cancer progression remains poorly defined. β4-integrin is a major carrier of N-
glycans and is associated with poor prognosis,
tumorigenesis, and
metastasis. Here, N-glycosylation of β4-integrin contributes to the activation of signaling pathways that promote β4-dependent
tumor development and progression. Increased expression of β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-
glycans was found to be colocalized with β4-integrin in human cutaneous
squamous cell carcinoma tissues, and that the β1,6GlcNAc residue was abundant on β4-integrin in transformed keratinocytes. Interruption of β1,6GlcNAc-branching formation on β4-integrin with the introduction of bisecting GlcNAc by
N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase III overexpression was correlated with suppression of
cancer cell migration and
tumorigenesis. N-
Glycan deletion on β4-integrin impaired β4-dependent
cancer cell migration, invasion, and growth in vitro and diminished
tumorigenesis and proliferation in vivo The reduced abilities of β4-integrin were accompanied with decreased phosphoinositol-3
kinase (PI3K)/Akt signals and were restored by the overexpression of the constitutively active p110 PI3K subunit. Binding of
galectin-3 to β4-integrin via β1,6GlcNAc-branched N-
glycans promoted β4-integrin-mediated
cancer cell adhesion and migration. In contrast, a
neutralizing antibody against
galectin-3 attenuated β4-integrin N-
glycan-mediated PI3K activation and inhibited the ability of β4-integrin to promote cell motility. Furthermore,
galectin-3 knockdown by
shRNA suppressed β4-integrin N-
glycan-mediated
tumorigenesis. These findings provide a novel role for N-glycosylation of β4-integrin in
tumor development and progression, and the regulatory mechanism for β4-
integrin/PI3K signaling via the galectin-3-N-glycan complex.Implications:N-Glycosylation of β4-integrin plays a functional role in promoting
tumor development and progression through PI3K activation via the galectin-3-N-glycan complex. Mol
Cancer Res; 16(6); 1024-34. ©2018 AACR.