[Application of glycan microarrays in cancer research]

Glycosylation is one of the common post-translational modifications of proteins to regulate the ability of tumor invasion, metastasis and tumor heterogeneity by interacting with glycan-binding proteins such as lectins and antibodies. Glycan microarray can be constructed by chemical synthesis, chemical-enzyme synthesis or natural glycan releasing. Glycan microarray is an essential analytical tool to discover the interaction between glycan and its binding proteins. Here we summarize the standard techniques to construct glycan microarray for the application in cancer vaccine, monoclonal antibody and diagnostic markers.