Hyaluronan-CD44 interaction during tumor development and their role as modulator of immune system

VITALE, DAIANA; GIANNONI, P; SPINELLI, FIORELLA; BRANDONI, A; ALANIZ, LAURA; SEVIC, INA; ICARDI, A.; BOLONTRADE, MARCELA F.

Buenos Aires

Simposio; 3rd Argentinian Symposium on Glycobiology; 2019

The tumor microenvironment (TME) consists of cellular and acellular components coexisting in an altered homeostasis. The acellular component of the TME is extracellular matrix (ECM), a complex network of macromolecules with different biological functions. One of the cellular components of TME are the tumor stem cells which have a constant interaction with their environment called niche. The glycosaminoglycan hyaluronic acid (HA) is tightly associated to the stem cells niche and its deregulated expression could be associated to the changes in the niche converting them to tumoral niches. The general objective of this work was the analysis of the alterations of HA in colon cancer tissue in order to find the cancer stem cell niche. The differences between the tumor tissue and adjacent normal tissue in mRNA expression of genes involved in biosynthesis anddegradation of HA were evaluated by Real Time PCR. On the other hand, the differences in tissue localization as well as in the expression levels of the HA were analyzed by tissue staining using HA-binding protein. CD44 mRNA as one of the principal HA receptors was evaluated by Real Time PCR. A differential expression of genes involved in HA signaling path was observed between tumor tissue and adjacent normal tissue, indicating possible pre-tumoral changes.