Salivary Agglutinin/DMBT1 SAG Expression is Up-regulated in the Presence of Salivary Gland Tumors

Abstract

Salivary agglutinin (SAG) is encoded by the gene Deleted in Malignant Brain Tumors 1 (DMBT1) and represents the salivary variant of DMBT1 (DMBT1^SAG). While SAG is a bona fide anti-caries factor, DMBT1 was proposed as a candidate tumor-suppressor for brain, digestive tract, and lung cancer. Though DMBT1^SAG is expressed in the salivary glands, its expression in salivary gland tumors is unknown. Here we analyzed DMBT1^SAG expression in 20 salivary gland tumors and 14 tumor-flanking tissues by immunohistochemistry. DMBT1^SAG in salivary gland tumors resembles the changes of expression levels known from DMBT1 in tumors in other cancer types. Particularly, DMBT1^SAG was up-regulated in 10/14 tumor-flanking tissues, and a strong staining of the luminal content in the tumor and/or the tumor-flanking tissue was observed in 14/20 cases. This suggests that, in addition to its role in caries defense, SAG may serve as a potential tumor indicator and/or tumor suppressor in salivary gland tissue.

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