Chemical, Molecular, and Single-nucleus Analysis Reveal Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan Aberrancy in Fibrolamellar Carcinoma.

ABSTRACT: Fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) is an aggressive liver cancer with no effective therapeutic options. The extracellular environment of FLC tumors is poorly characterized and may contribute to cancer growth and/or metastasis. To bridge this knowledge gap, we assessed pathways relevant to proteoglycans, a major component of the extracellular matrix. We first analyzed gene expression data from FLC and nonmalignant liver tissue (n = 27) to identify changes in glycosaminoglycan (GAG) biosynthesis pathways and found that genes associated with production of chondroitin sulfate, but not other GAGs, are significantly increased by 8-fold. We then implemented a novel LC/MS-MS based method to quantify the abundance of different types of GAGs in patient tumors (n = 16) and found that chondro

SUBMITTER: Francisco AB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10010304 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature