# ST8Sia6 expression on tumors inhibits the immune response

> **NIH NIH R01** · MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER · 2020 · $152,578

## Abstract

Abstract – Supplement
Checkpoint blockade, which targets inhibitory receptors that suppress successful T cell responses to tumors,
demonstrates the critical role that the immune response plays against cancer. However, not all cancers
respond to immunotherapy or checkpoint blockade targeting PD-1 or CTLA-4 on T cells. Thus, many tumors
may target other inhibitory receptors or different components of the immune system to block it from mounting
an effective response. One family of inhibitory receptors on immune cells is the Siglec family, which recognize
ligands with sialic acid modifications on cell surface glycoproteins and glycolipids. There are twenty eukaryotic
sialic acid transferases, each with different specificity for preferred linkages, targets, and number of sialic acids
added. It has been long recognized that tumors alter the type and frequency of glycosylation and sialic acid
addition on the cell surface. In particular, increased incorporation of sialic acid is frequently observed in
cancer, although the function of hyper-sialylation in promoting and sustaining tumor growth is not well
understood. Interestingly, using the COSMIC database, we found that while 389 human tumors over-
expressed the sialic acid transferase ST8Sia6, none under-expressed ST8Sia6; this indicates a strong
selective advantage for tumors with high ST8Sia6 expression, although the function of ST8Sia6 in cancer is
not known. We demonstrated that ST8Sia6 overexpression in either MC38 or B16-F10 tumor cell lines
accelerated tumor growth in mice. We also showed that ST8Sia6 generates ligands for the inhibitory Siglec,
Siglec-E, whose expression is restricted to innate immune cells. The growth advantage of ST8Sia6-expressing
tumor cells was lost upon injection into Siglec-E knockout mice, demonstrating that the primary effect of
ST8Sia6 overexpression is on inhibition of the immune response of the host rather than an intrinsic effect on
cell growth. Overexpression of ST8Sia6 in a spontaneous model of colon cancer dramatically decreased
survival to 2-3 months instead of 6 months, demonstrating the strong effect of ST8Sia6 overexpression on
tumor cell growth in vivo. The focus of this supplement is to use tools generated by Drs. Carolyn Bertozzi and
Sharon Pitteri under the NIH Common Fund Glycoscience Program (CF-GSP) to 1) identify the glycans which
are modified by ST8Sia6 in cancer cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells and 2) identify the proteins whose
glycans are modified by ST8Sia6 in cancer cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells which associate with
Siglec-E. There is no overlap between the experiments proposed here to identify the targets of ST8Sia6 and
the currently funded R01, but this supplement extends the work to identify the critical glycans/proteins modified
by ST8Sia6 which inhibit the immune response to tumors.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10133904
- **Project number:** 3R01CA243545-01A1S1
- **Recipient organization:** MAYO CLINIC ROCHESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Virginia Smith Shapiro
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $152,578
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-12-01 → 2020-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10133904

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10133904, ST8Sia6 expression on tumors inhibits the immune response (3R01CA243545-01A1S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10133904. Licensed CC0.

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