B3GNT3 promotes invasiveness of colorectal cancer by regulating the glycosylation of MUC20/ PD-L1

Glycosyltransferase B3GNT3 has been associated with tumor progression in several solid tumors. However, no studies have reported the potential functions of B3GNT3 in CRC. In this study, qRT-PCR and public database analysis showed that B3GNT3 was overexpressed in colorectal tumors compared with the adjacent nontumor tissues.Functionally, we demonstrated that knockdown of B3GNT3 suppressed colorectal cancer cell growth and invasion in vitro. Interestingly, we found that B3GNT3 modified N-glycans on MUC20 and PD-L1.In addition, bioinformatics analysis showed MUC20 expression was significantly correlated with immune cells infiltration.. These findings suggest that B3GNT3 promotes colorectal cancer invasion at least partly through modulating the N-glycosylation of MUC20 /PD-L1.