Prostate cancer

Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is an integral cell-surface membrane glycoprotein that is overexpressed in prostate carcinomas rendering it an appropriate target for antibody-based therapeutic strategies.

As we could show, mannose-rich PSMA persists as a trypsin-sensitive protein throughout its entire life cycle, and only Golgi-located PSMA glycoforms acquire trypsin resistance. This resistance, used as a tool to examine correct folding, does not depend on the type of glycosylation, because different PSMA glycoforms generated in the presence of inhibitors of carbohydrate processing in the Golgi are also trypsin resistant. Also neither the cell-surface expression of PSMA nor its efficient apical sorting in polarized Madin-Darby canine kidney cells are influenced by modulators of N- and O-glycosylation.