Background of the antigen
The UDP-N-acetyl-alpha-D-galactosamine:polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase (GalNAc-T) family of enzymes are substrate-specific proteins that catalyze the transfer of GalNAc (N-acetylgalactosamine) to serine and threonine residues onto various proteins, thereby initiating mucin-type O-linked glycosylation in the Golgi apparatus. GalNAc-T13 (Polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 13), also known as UDP-GalNAc:polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 13, is a 556 amino acid protein that displays much stronger enzymatic activity than GalNAc-1 towards GalNAc transfer to mucin peptides such as Muc5a and Muc7. The N-terminal domain is involved in substrate binding and manganese coordination, while the C-terminal domain is involved in UDP-Gal binding and catalytic reaction. With specific expression in the central nervous system, GalNAc-T13 may be responsible for the synthesis of Tn antigen in neuronal cells, which is a universal carcinoma marker on malignant cells.
