A lecture by Dr Frederic BARD (Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore) at IPBS on Nov 3, 11 am

Activating an invasion glycocode through Golgi reorganisation

It has been known for over 30 years that various cancer cells dramatically up-regulate production of the one sugar O-glycan called Tn. But it has remained unclear why and how. In recent years, we have identified a pathway regulating the Tn producing enzymes, the GALNTs. This GALNTs Activation (GALA) pathway is based on the relocation of the enzymes from the Golgi to ER, a Golgi reorganization leading to a massive increase in O-glycosylation. We have genetically dissected this pathway using high throughput microscopy and RNAi screening and found that it is highly regulated. In addition, our recent results indicate that GALNTs relocation strongly promotes liver tumors growth through up-regulation of tissue invasion. I will discuss the mechanisms underlying this tumor promoting activity and how hyper-glycosylation of cell surface proteins might form an invasion glycocode.

Selected publications:  NGuyen et al. (2017) Organelle specific O-glycosylation drives MMP14 activation, tumor growth and metastasis. Cancer Cell (in press)  Bard & Chia (2016) Cracking the Glycome Encoder: Signaling, Trafficking, and Glycosylation. Trends Cell Biol 26(5): 379-88  Chia et al. (2014) ERK8 is a negative regulator of O-GalNAc glycosylation and cell migration. eLife 3: e01828  Gill et al. (2013) Initiation of GalNAc-type O-glycosylation in the endoplasmic reticulum promotes cancer cell invasiveness. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 110(34): E3152-61  Gill et al. (2010) Regulation of O-glycosylation through Golgi-to-ER relocation of initiation enzymes. J Cell Biol 189(5): 843–858

Contact : Yoann Rombouts (yoann.rombouts@ipbs.fr) 

venue : Seminar Room - IPBS CNRS Campus, 205 route de Narbonne TOULOUSE

date and time : November 3rd, 2017 - 11h 

Note for visitors: Please come with a valid identity card