earticle

영어

Polypeptide N-acetyl-galactosaminyltransferases (GALNTs) have been shown to play diverse roles in several biological processes, but their function in organ-tropic metastasis remains unknown. Here, we find that GALNT14expression is specifically associated with pulmonary metastasis in breast cancer patients. Furthermore, we demonstrate that GALNT14 promotes lung metastasis by facilitating two important steps during the metastatic process, i.e., initiation of metastatic colonies and their subsequent growth into overt metastases. Mechanistic studies suggest that GALNT14 not only augments self-renewal of breast cancer cells within the lung microenvironment but also allows breast cancer cells to exploit macrophage-derived growth factors for their continuous growth. The mediators of GALNT14 involved in these processes will also be discussed.