Serum sialic acid alterations in the hamster cheek pouch carcinogenesis

• Published in: Japanese Journal of Oral Biology Vol. 30; no. 5; pp. 695 - 698
• Main Authors: Yamada, Tetsuo, Kage, Toshitaka, Wakano, Taizoh, Nakajima, Junko, Mogi, Makio, Chino, Takehiro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Japanese Association for Oral Biology 1988
• Subjects: hamster cheek pouch carcinogenesis; Serum sialic acid
• ISSN: 0385-0137
• DOI: 10.2330/joralbiosci1965.30.695

The hamster cheek pouch mucosal carcinoma model, as developed by Salley1), is an excellent experimental system for the study of oral mucous membrane malignancy. The development of tumors is so consistent, though past investigations were based mainly on morphologic studies, that the time dependent biochemical changes may be identified. Recently, attention has been focused on the surface protein of cancer cells, including tumor associated antigens, which might distinguish them from normal cells. Some glycoproteins and glycolipids, which are constituents of the cell surface, are important to cancer related properties, and sialic acid is a common terminal saccharide of these glycoproteins and glycolipids2). A neoplasm often has an increased concentration of sialic acid on the tumor cell surface, and sialoglycoproteins are shed or secreted by some of these cells, which increases their concentration in the blood3,4). In this report, we describe the progressive changes of sialic acid concentration in the sera of the hamsters submitted to the carcinogenesis experiment to appraise the significance of the value as a "tumor marker".