Figure 1.

(a) Drawing shows endothelium with intact GCX. As metastatic cancer cells move with blood flow, the healthy GCX blocks the adhesion ligands on the cancer cells from attaching to the adhesion receptors on the endothelium lining of the blood vessel wall. We hypothesize that cancer cell attachment to the endothelium is caused by endothelial GCX degradation. (b, c) These drawings illustrate the conclusions of the findings reported herein. Our observations provide evidence that the systemic increase in Neur (b), which coincides with metastatic cancer conditions, degrades the GCX as a whole and as applied to its∝‐2,6‐linked and ∝‐2,3‐linked SA residues (c). This GCX degradation leads to increased cancer cell attachment to ECs, and we speculate that this is mediated by exposure of adhesion receptors on the endothelium which become accessible to adhesion ligands on cancer cells (c). ECs, endothelial cells; GCX, glycocalyx; SA, sialic acid