{
  "abstract": "Sialic acids are a family of nine-carbon -keto sugars that play essential roles in human health and disease. In mammals, they are found in two main forms: N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) and N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc), with interactions between Neu5Ac-containing glycans and Siglec receptors on immune cells increasingly recognised as glyco-immune checkpoints, promoting immunosuppression. However, humans do not synthesise Neu5Gc due pseudogenisation of the CMAH gene which encodes the cytidine monophospho-N-acetylneuraminic acid hydroxylase enzyme responsible for CMP-Neu5Ac conversion into CMP-Neu5Gc, which then serves as the donor substrate for sialyltransferases. Here, we investigated the effects of re-engineering tumour cell-surface glycans in a prostate cancer cell model by expressing rat CMAH, thereby enabling the conversion of CMP-Neu5Ac to CMP-Neu5Gc. LNCaP cells transfected with the rat CMAH gene predominantly incorporated Neu5Gc into mucin-associated O-glycans implicated in immune suppression. Treatment with sialidase significantly reduced Neu5Gc expression, indicating that Neu5Gc was presented on cell-surface glycans, while cell-tracing experiments demonstrated the transfer of Neu5Gc to neighbouring cells, revealing a potential bystander effect capable of propagating Neu5Gc expression within the tumour microenvironment.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of York"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Y. Uno"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. Noble"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. Hutton"
    },
    {
      "name": "N. Signoret"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "M. Fascione"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cne3qwxed418z.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.09.750340",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.09.750340v1.full",
  "id": "cne3qwxed418z",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.09.750340v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "cancer biology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Glycosylation and Glycoproteins Research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212280710",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.09.750340v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-09",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cne3qwxed418z.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:21:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.09.750340",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.09.750340v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "biorxiv:cancer biology",
      "subfield": "oncology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Characterisation of prostate cancer sialome re-engineering via CMAH transfection reveals a bystander effect that propagates Neu5Gc presentation to neighbouring cells",
  "title_text": "Characterisation of prostate cancer sialome re-engineering via CMAH transfection reveals a bystander effect that propagates Neu5Gc presentation to neighbouring cells",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:21:22Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cne3qwxed418z",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}