The Nucleotide Sugar UDP-GlcNAc, a Major Glycosylation Precursor, Can Be Observed in Intact Tumour Cells by 1H NMR in the Low Field Spectral Region

Antonella Rosi¹, Alessandra Palma¹, Sveva Grande¹, Laura Guidoni¹, Anna Maria Luciani¹, Vincenza Viti¹

Some aspects of sugar metabolism are involved in tumour progression. The dynamic changes in glycosylation levels in response to extracellular stimuli suggest a key role of signal transduction pathways. Nucleotide sugars have elicited much attention, being donor substrates for glycosylation of proteins and lipids.1H NMR was used to observe sugar-related metabolites in cells, in the low region of the spectrum. We observed major hexosamine precursors in two tumour cell lines. Modulation of signal intensities by NH4Cl treatment allowed to assign two nucleotide sugar signals, thus providing a tool for quantitation of these molecules in intact cells and, possibly, in tumour tissues.