摘要
Sialylation, or the covalent addition of sialic acid to the terminal end of glycoproteins, is a biologically important modification that is involved in embryonic development, neurodevelopment, reprogramming, oncogenesis and immune responses. In this review, we have given a comprehensive overview of the current literature on the involvement of sialylation in cell fate decision during development, reprogramming and cancer progressionSialylation is essential for early embryonic development and the deletion of UDP-GIcNAc 2-epimerase, a rate-limiting enzyme in sialic acid biosynthesis, is embryonically lethal. Furthermore, the sialyltransferase ST6GAL1 is required for somatic cell reprogramming, and its downregulation is associated with decreased reprogramming efficiency. In addition, sialylation levels and patterns are altered during cancer progression, indicating the potential of sialylated molecules as cancer biomarkers. Taken together, the current evidences demonstrate that sialylation is involved in crucial cell fate decision.
基金
National Key Research and Development Program 2016YFA (0101700) and 2017YFA0102800
the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31771639 and 81703086)
Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program 2016ZT06S029
the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (17ykzd04)
Thousand Youth Talents Plan to J. Ding and J. W., the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31771)
a project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M622863).
