Abstract
Rat small intestinal goblet cell mucins reacting with monoclonal antibody HCM31 increase significantly during regeneration from experimental mucosal damage and at the period of expulsion of parasitic nematode, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (N.b). The reduction in reactivity of HCM31 with mucin upon neuraminidase treatment, suggested that HCM31 recognizes sialylated oligosaccharide on mucin. HCM31‐reactive sialomucins are therefore considered to play an important role in the physiological and pathological changes in the gastrointestinal mucosa. To determine the epitope for HCM31, oligosaccharide–alditols reacted with HCM31 were obtained from the small intestinal mucins of N.b‐infected rats and purified by ion‐exchange chromatography followed by normal‐phase HPLC. Two HCM31‐reactive oligosaccharide‐alditols were obtained. Analyses using tandem mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy showed that these oligosaccharides were core 4 mucin‐type oligosaccharides having a common tetrasaccharide sequence, NeuAcα2‐3(GalNAcβ1‐4)Galβ1‐4GlcNAcβ‐ (Sda blood group antigen). These structures were not found in the small intestinal mucin oligosaccharides from uninfected rats. This epitope specificity of HCM31 was also confirmed using previously established anti‐GM2 and anti‐Sda antibodies. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that HCM31 specifically recognizes mucin‐type oligosaccharides with the Sda tetrasaccharide sequence. Immunohistochemical examination of human gastrointestinal tracts showed that HCM31 site‐specifically stained the goblet cells in normal sigmoid colon and normal rectum, but the goblet cells stained with HCM31 were reduced in the corresponding cancer tissues. HCM31 seems to be useful for diagnosis of colonic cancer and for examining the function of secretory‐type mucin with Sda antigen.