The metastasis-inducing protein AGR2 is O-glycosylated upon secretion from mammary epithelial cells.

AGR2 is overexpressed in multiple cancers, particularly those arising from breast and prostate tissues, and higher levels of AGR2 are associated with earlier patient death. Although AGR2 is normally resident within the endoplasmic reticulum, the protein has been found in the extracellular space in several model systems. However, it has never been expressly demonstrated that this extracellular form of the protein is secreted and does not just accumulate in the extracellular space as a result of cell lysis. We show in this paper that AGR2 protein is secreted by both human and rat mammary epithelial cells in culture. Furthermore, this secreted form of AGR2 becomes O-glycosylated, with no detectable presence of N-glycosylation. Importantly, this post-translationally modified AGR2 is only detected in the conditioned medium from non-leaky cells, suggesting that membrane integrity must be maintained to allow AGR2 glycosylation. The results suggest a possible role for O-glycosylation in modulating the extracellular functions of AGR2.