Identification of Signals from Glycosylation Precursors in 1H MR Spectra of Intact Tumour Cells

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

The glycosylation process, either in the secretory pathway or in the nucleocytoplasmatic compartment, is a major post translation modification of proteins. MRS is a technique able to observe cell metabolites directly in intact cells. Carbohydrate metabolism is not fully exploited with this technique in intact systems. In a previous study we identified some relevant signals of glycosylation precursors in the low field region in intact tumor cells spectra. The present study deals with identification of signals from GalNAc in a cancer cells from adenocarcinoma of the human cervix. Treatment of cells with ammonium chloride allowed confirming signal assignment.