Expression of the Gene Encoding Secretor Type Galactoside 2 α Fucosyltransferase (FUT2) and CD44 Marker in Urogenital Tumors

The aim of this work was to investigate the FUT2 gene, the secretor status and the expression of CD44 protein in epithelial cells obtain from saliva and urine samples from patients with urogenital tumours. We studied 104 subjects. Half of them had urogenital tumours, while the other half was the healthy control group. We determined the secretor status in saliva with the haemagglutination inhibition technique. We analyzed the FUT2 polymorphism by allele specific oligonucleotide–polymerase chain reaction (ASO-PCR) with specific primers for the G428 allele and the wild type allele of FUT2 gene. We found higher intensity of urogenital disease in the non-secretor group (OR = 3.44). In contrast with the healthy population, 51.6% of the patients with potential malignant urogenital lesions and cancerous lesions were nonsecretors. We also investigate by confocal microscopy, the expression of CD44 protein in epithelial cells obtained from urine samples from these patients. The results obtained also showed fluorescence corresponding to the presence of CD44 protein in samples from patients diagnosed with cancer. Our study suggests that the lack of wild type FUT2 gene and a nonsecretor status appear to be an associated risk marker for the development of urogenital tumors. Several mechanisms, based on the properties of CD44 as the major hyaluronan CD44 in cell carcinomas receptor, have been proposed to explain the role of elevated CD44 expression during tumour development and progression. CD44 might be a good candidate as a predictor of prognosis in this group of cancers.