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Updated: Oct 25, 2025
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Chemically-blocked Antibody Microarray for Multiplexed High-throughput Profiling of Specific Protein Glycosylation in Complex Samples
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Glycosylation: Rising Potential for Prostate Cancer Evaluation
Anna Kałuża1, Justyna Szczykutowicz1, Mirosława Ferens-Sieczkowska1
1Department of Chemistry and Immunochemistry, Wroclaw Medical University, Sklodowskiej-Curie 48/50, 50-369 Wroclaw, Poland.
Cancers
|August 7, 2021
Summary
Prostate cancer glycosylation changes, like increased sialylation and fucosylation, are key cancer hallmarks. These glycan alterations offer potential as new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for prostate cancer detection.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Biochemistry
- Glycobiology
Background:
- Prostate cancer is a leading cancer diagnosis in men globally.
- Altered protein glycosylation is a recognized hallmark of cancer.
- Current prostate cancer biomarkers like prostate-specific antigen (PSA) have limitations in sensitivity and specificity, leading to unnecessary biopsies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review glycosylation alterations in prostate cancer.
- To highlight specific changes such as sialylation and fucosylation.
- To discuss the potential of glycans as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of studies on prostate cancer glycosylation.
- Focus on specific glycan alterations: sialylation (α2,3-sialylation), core fucosylation, branched N-glycans, LacdiNAc, and truncated O-glycans (sTn, sT antigen).
Main Results:
- Prostate cancer cells exhibit diverse glycosylation changes, including increased sialylation and fucosylation.
- These glycan alterations impact protein function and cancer processes like cell signaling, adhesion, and migration.
- Specific glycan structures like α2,3-sialylation, core fucosylation, and truncated O-glycans are associated with prostate cancer.
Conclusions:
- Glycosylation alterations are significant in prostate cancer development and progression.
- Specific glycan profiles show promise for improving prostate cancer diagnosis and prognosis.
- Further research into glycans could lead to novel biomarker development for prostate cancer.
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