On-chip lectin microarray for glycoprofiling of different gastritis types and gastric cancer

An on-chip lectin microarray based glycomic approach is employed to identify glyco markers for different gastritis and gastric cancer. Changes in protein glycosylation have impact on biological function and carcinogenesis. These altered glycosylation patterns in serum proteins and membrane proteins of tumor cells can be unique markers of cancer progression and hence have been exploited to diagnose various stages of cancer through lectin microarray technology. In the present work, we aimed to study the alteration of glycan structure itself in different stages of gastritis and gastric cancer thoroughly. In order to perform the study from both serum and tissue glycoproteins in an efficient and high-throughput manner, we indigenously developed and employed lectin microarray integrated on a microfluidic lab-on-a-chip platform. We analyzed serum and gastric biopsy samples from 8 normal, 15 chronic Type-B gastritis, 10 chronic Type-C gastritis, and 6 gastric adenocarcinoma patients and found that the glycoprofile obtained from tissue samples was more distinctive than that of the sera samples. We were able to establish signature glycoprofile for the three disease groups, that were absent in healthy normal individuals. In addition, our findings elucidated certain novel signature glycan expression in chronic gastritis and gastric cancer. In silico analysis showed that glycoprofile of chronic gastritis and gastric adenocarcinoma formed close clusters, confirming the previously hypothesized linkage between them. This signature can be explored further as gastric cancer marker to develop novel analytical tools and obtain in-depth understanding of the disease prognosis.