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BACKGROUND: Recently, it has been reported that upregulation of the oligosaccharide sialyl Le(x) (SLex) in prostate cancer is associated with hormone-resistant, aggressive disease. However, it is not clear that SLe(x) expressed on prostate cancer cells has a biological function related to metastatic potential. METHODS: The expression levels of SLe(x), sialyl Le(a) (SLea), disialosyl galactosylgloboside (DSGG), monosialosyl galactosylgloboside (MSGG) and variousfucosyltransferases in 3 prostate cancer cell lines were determined. The function of SLe(x) expressed on prostate cancer cell lines was determined by a selectin-dependent adhesion assay. RESULTS: No prostate cancer cell lines expressed SLe(a), DSGG, or MSGG, but all prostate cancer cells moderately expressed SLe(x). Fucosyltransferase expression did not correlate with the expression of SLe(x), and all prostate cancer cells failed to bind immobilized selectin. CONCLUSION: The expression of SLe(x) on these prostate cancer cells does not correlate with selectin-dependent adhesion.
Satoh et al. (1998) studied this question.