1997 Karl Meyer Award Winner


Minoru Fukuda, Ph.D. Professor
Tumor Microenvironment  
Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute
 
Biography
Minoru Fukuda earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1973 and did his postdoctoral training at the Yale University School of Medicine. Following a period with joint appointments at University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, he was recruited to Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in 1982 as Director of the Glycobiology Program.

Dr. Fukuda directs the program project grant, which consolidates the research efforts of the members of the Glycobiology Program. Dr. Fukuda is a recipient of a Merit Award from the National Cancer Institute and the 1997 recipient of the Karl Meyer Award from the Society of Glycobiology. He served as an Executive Editor for Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, as an Associate Editor for Cancer Research and Editorial Member for Journal of Biological Chemistry. He also has edited 11 books including three books from Oxford University Press and three volumes of Methods in Enzymology and holds an Adjunct Professor appointment at the University of California, San Diego.

Research Focus
The cell surface is heavily coated with carbohydrates. The structure of those cell surface carbohydrates displays a dramatic change during development, and mature cells express cell surface carbohydrates specific to different organs and tissues. Cell surface carbohydrates thus serve as a zip code for different organs and tissues. Sialyl Lewis X represents such an oligosaccharide. After discovery of sialyl Lewis X in neutrophils by Dr. Minoru Fukuda, his laboratory demonstrated that sulfated form of sialyl Lewis X is essential for lymphocyte homing and recruitment of natural killer cells in preventing tumor metastasis to the peripheral lymph node. With colleagues from Japan, Dr. Fukuda discovered that certain carbohydrates function as antibiotics against Helicobacter pylori infection, which is a leading cause for peptic ulcer and gastric carcinoma. Most recent studies in Dr. Fukuda's laboratory revealed that decrease of the laminin-binding glycans on α-dystroglycan in carcinoma cells leads to tumor cell migration, invasion, and metastasis. The restoration of the unique glycans by the expression of distinct β3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase renders these cells act like normal cells. The results indicate that certain carbohydrates on normal cells and enzymes that synthesize those glycans, such as β3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase, function as tumor suppressors These findings will be useful in developing carbohydrate-based therapy for the treatment of inflammation and tumor metastasis.