Loss of effector function of human cytolytic T lymphocytes is accompanied by major alterations in N- and O-glycosylation.

ABSTRACT: Most human tumors are not eliminated by the immune system, and therapeutic vaccination shows poor results, a fact that can be explained at least partially by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment that is abundant in galectin-3. On cytolytic T lymphocyte (CTL) clones, maintained in culture by regular stimulation, recently activated CTLs present low effector functions. However, these functions are restored after a short treatment with LacNAc. The latter, which is in agreement with the glycoprotein-galectin lattice concept involving reduced motility, poses the question why galectin-3 ligands improve effector functions. We employed ultrasensitive MALDI-TOF-MS on resting and recently activated CTL clones combined with various glycosidase digestions and GC-MS linkage analyses. Our results

SUBMITTER: Antonopoulos A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3322850 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature