Tumor Antigen Occurs in N-Glycan of Royal Jelly Glycoproteins: Honeybee Cells Synthesize T-Antigen Unit in N-Glycan Moiety

Abstract

In our previous paper (Kimura, Y., et al., Biosci. Biotechnol. Biochem., 67, 1852–1856, 2003), we found that a complex type N-glycans containing β1-3 galactose residue occurs on royal jelly glycoproteins. During structural analysis of minor components of royal jelly N-glycans, we found complex type N-glycans bearing both galactose and N-acetylgalactosamine residues. Detailed structural analysis of pyridylaminated oligosaccharide revealed that the newly found N-glycan had a complex type structure harboring a tumor marker (T-antigen) unit: Galβ1-3GalNAcβ1-4GlcNAcβ1-2Manα1-6 (Galβ1-3GalNAcβ1-4GlcNAcβ1-2Manα1-3) Manβ1-4GlcNAcβ1-4GlcNAc. To our knowledge, this may be the first report of the presence of the T-antigen unit in the N-glycan moiety of eucaryotic glycoproteins.