A critical role for lymphatic endothelial heparan sulfate in lymph node metastasis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lymph node metastasis constitutes a key event in tumor progression. The molecular control of this process is poorly understood. Heparan sulfate is a linear polysaccharide consisting of unique sulfate-modified disaccharide repeats that allow the glycan to bind a variety of proteins, including chemokines. While some chemokines may drive lymphatic trafficking of tumor cells, the functional and genetic importance of heparan sulfate as a possible mediator of chemokine actions in lymphatic metastasis has not been reported.

Results

We applied a loss-of-function genetic approach employing lymphatic endothelial conditional mutations in heparan sulfate biosynthesis to study the effects on tumor-lymphatic trafficking and lymph node metastasis. Lymphatic endothelial deficienc

SUBMITTER: Yin X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3019167 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature