Glycosyltransferase, nucleic acid encoding the glycosyltransferase and method of testing canceration using the nucleic acid

Abstract

A tumor marker nucleic acid of the present invention is concerned with a nucleic acid hybridizing under stringent conditions to a nucleotide sequence described in SEQ ID NO: 1 or a complementary nucleotide sequence thereof. A method of testing canceration of the present invention is a method comprising diagnosing a biological sample as being cancerous when the transcription level of the nucleic acid in the biological sample significantly exceeds that in a normal biological sample as a control. The present invention also relates to a β1,3-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyltransferase protein having an activity of transferring N-acetyl-D-glucosamine from a donor substrate to an acceptor substrate through β1,3-linkage.

1 . A nucleic acid hybridizing under stringent conditions to a nucleotide sequence described in SEQ ID NO: 1 or a complementary nucleotide sequence thereof. 
     
     
         2 . The nucleic acid according to  claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid consists of a nucleotide sequence having at least 15 contiguous nucleotides in a nucleotide sequence described in SEQ ID NO: 1 or a complementary nucleotide sequence thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The nucleic acid according to  claim 2 , wherein the nucleic acid consists of a nucleotide sequence described in SEQ ID NO: 1 or a complementary nucleotide sequence thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The nucleic acid according to  claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid is a probe or a primer. 
     
     
         5 . The nucleic acid according to  claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid is a tumor marker. 
     
     
         6 . A method of testing canceration of a biological sample, comprising:
 (a) using a nucleic acid according to  claim 1  to measure the transcription level of the nucleic acid in the biological sample; and   (b) diagnosing the biological sample as being cancerous when the transcription level of the nucleic acid in the biological sample significantly exceeds that in a normal biological sample as a control.   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the biological sample is a sample derived from the large intestine or peripheral blood. 
     
     
         8 . A method of testing canceration of a biological sample comprising:
 (a) using a nucleic acid according to  claim 1  as a labeled probe, which is in turn brought into contact with the biological sample under stringent hybridization conditions to measure the transcription level of the nucleic acid in the biological sample based on a signal from the label of the hybridized nucleic acid; and   (b) diagnosing the biological sample as being cancerous when the transcription level of the nucleic acid in the biological sample significantly exceeds that in a normal biological sample as a control.   
     
     
         9 . A method of testing canceration of a biological sample, comprising:
 (a) using a primer according to  claim 4  that is labeled to subject a biological sample to nucleic acid amplification and measuring the amount of a resulting nucleic acid amplification product; and   (b) diagnosing the biological sample as being cancerous when the amount of the nucleic acid amplification product significantly exceeds that in a normal biological sample as a control.   
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the biological sample is a sample derived from the large intestine or peripheral blood. 
     
     
         11 . A method of examining the effectiveness of treatment for cancer therapy by use of a nucleic acid according to  claim 1 , comprising: using the nucleic acid to measure the transcription level of the nucleic acid in a biological sample that has received treatment for cancer therapy and comparing its measurement value with that before the treatment or without the treatment, thereby determining whether the treatment given to the biological sample is effective or not. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 11 , comprising: using the biological sample which has already been cancerous and determining that treatment for cancer therapy given to the biological sample is effective when the transcription level of the nucleic acid in the biological sample that has received the treatment is significantly below that before the treatment or without the treatment. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the biological sample is an in vivo biological sample from a non-human model animal. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the biological sample is a sample derived from the large intestine or peripheral blood. 
     
     
         15 . A nucleic acid comprises a nucleotide sequence from nucleotide Nos. 97 to 1194 described in SEQ ID NO: 1 or a complementary nucleotide sequence thereof. 
     
     
         16 . The nucleic acid according to  claim 15 , wherein the nucleic acid is DNA. 
     
     
         17 . A vector comprising a nucleic acid according to  claim 15 . 
     
     
         18 . A transformant comprising a vector according to  claim 17 . 
     
     
         19 . A method of producing a β1,3-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyltransferase protein, comprising: growing a transformant according to  claim 18  and expressing the glycosyltransferase protein to collect the glycosyltransferase protein from the transformant. 
     
     
         20 . An antibody recognizing a β1,3-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminyltransferase protein comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2 OR SEQ ID NO: 16.