Patatin primary structural properties and effects on lipid metabolism.

Patatin, the major protein found in potatoes, was purified and shows several isoforms. The essential amino acid content of patatin was ashighas 76%, indicating that it is a valuable protein source. Patatin was an O-linked glycoprotein that contained fucose monosaccharides, as well as mannose, rhamnose, glucose, galactose, xylose, and arabinose. Patatin had a fucosylated glycan structural feature, which strongly bound AAL (Aleuria aurantia Leukoagglutinin), a known fucose binding lectin. Moreover, thelipid metabolism regulatory effects of patatin on the fat catabolism, fat absorption, and inhibition of lipase activity were measured after high-fat feeding of zebrafish larvae. Results revealed that 37.0 µg/mL patatin promoted 23% lipid decomposition metabolism. Meanwhile patatin could inhibite lipase activity and fat absorption, whose effects accounted for half that of a positive control drug. Our findings suggest that patatin, a fucosylated glycoprotein, could potentially be used as a naturalactiveconstituent with anti-obesity effects.

Serum fucosylated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) improves the differentiation of aggressive from non-aggressive prostate cancers.

BACKGROUND: Clinically, it is still challenging to differentiate aggressive from non-aggressive prostate cancers (Pca) by non-invasive approaches. Our recent studies showed that overexpression of alpha (1-6) fucosyltransferase played an important role in Pca cells. In this study, we have investigated levels of glycoproteins and their fucosylated glycoforms in sera of Pca patients, as well as the potential utility of fucosylated glycoproteins in the identification of aggressive Pca. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Serum samples from histomorphology-proven Pca cases were included. Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), tissue inhibitor of metallopeptidase 1 (TIMP1) and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), and their fucosylated glycoforms were captured by Aleuria Aurantia Lectin (AAL), followed by the multiplex magnetic bead-based immunoassay. The level of fucosylated glycoproteins was correlated with patients' Gleason score of the tumor. RESULT: Among three fucosylated glycoproteins, the fucosylated PSA was significantly increased and correlated with the tumor Gleason score (p<0.05). The ratio of fucosylated PSA showed a marked increase in aggressive tumors in comparison to non-aggressive tumors. ROC analysis also showed an improved predictive power of fucosylated PSA in the identification of aggressive Pca. CONCLUSIONS: Our data demonstrated that fucosylated PSA has a better predictive power to differentiate aggressive tumors from non-aggressive tumors, than that of native PSA and two other glycoproteins. The fucosylated PSA has the potential to be used as a surrogate biomarker.