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Review
. 2023 Jun;54(2):907-919.
doi: 10.1007/s42770-023-00936-0. Epub 2023 Feb 25.

Non-self glycan structures as possible modulators of cancer progression: would polysaccharides from Cryptococcus spp. impact this phenomenon?

Israel Diniz-Lima  1 , Leonardo Marques da Fonseca  1 , Jhenifer Santos Dos Reis  1 , Debora Decote-Ricardo  2 , Alexandre Morrot  3   4 , Jose Osvaldo Previato  1 , Lucia Mendonça Previato  1 , Celio Geraldo Freire-de-Lima  1 , Leonardo Freire-de-Lima  5
Affiliations
Review

Non-self glycan structures as possible modulators of cancer progression: would polysaccharides from Cryptococcus spp. impact this phenomenon?

Israel Diniz-Lima et al. Braz J Microbiol. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Invasive fungal infections (IFI) are responsible for a large number of annual deaths. Most cases are closely related to patients in a state of immunosuppression, as is the case of patients undergoing chemotherapy. Cancer patients are severely affected by the worrisome proportions that an IFI can take during cancer progression, especially in an already immunologically and metabolically impaired patient. There is scarce knowledge about strategies to mitigate cancer progression in these cases, beyond conventional treatment with antifungal drugs with a narrow therapeutic range. However, in recent years, ample evidence has surfaced describing the possible interferences that IFI may have both on the progression of pre-existing cancers and in the induction of newly transformed cells. The leading gambit for modulation of tumor progression comes from the ability of fungal virulence factors to modulate the host's immune system, since they are found in considerable concentrations in the tumor microenvironment during infection. In this context, cryptococcosis is of particular concern, since the main virulence factor of the pathogenic yeast is its polysaccharide capsule, which carries constituents with high immunomodulatory properties and cytotoxic potential. Therefore, we open a discussion on what has already been described regarding the progression of cryptococcosis in the context of cancer progression, and the possible implications that fungal glycan structures may take in both cancer development and progression.

Keywords: Cancer; Cryptococcosis; Epithelial-mesenchymal transition process; Glycobiology; Glycoconjugates; Immunomodulation; Invasive fungal infection; Metastasis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The effects of antitumor and antifungal drug therapy on immunity during metastasis and proposed mechanisms for the interaction between the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus spp. and its capsular polysaccharides during tumor progression. MMP, matrix metalloproteinase; EMT, epithelial-mesenchymal transition; ABC transporters, ATP-binding cassette transporters. Green arrows indicate activation and induction effects; red arrows indicate regulation and inhibition effects; gray arrows indicate proposed effects. Upside and downside arrows indicate respectively upregulation and downregulation of indicated factors
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