Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 7, 2025

Glycan Node Analysis: A Bottom-up Approach to Glycomics
Published on: May 22, 2016
Glycobiology of Cancer: Sugar Drives the Show
Jhenifer Santos Dos Reis1, Marcos André Rodrigues da Costa Santos1, Daniella Pereira Mendonça1
1Instituto de Biofisica Carlos Chagas Filho, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-170, Brazil.
Abstract:
Cancer development and progression is associated with aberrant changes in cellular glycosylation. Cells expressing altered glycan-structures are recognized by cells of the immune system, favoring the induction of inhibitory immune processes which subsequently promote tumor growth and spreading. Here, we discuss about the importance of glycobiology in modern medicine, taking into account the impact of altered glycan structures expressed in cancer cells as potential glycobiomarkers of disease, as well as on cancer development and progression.
Related Concept Videos
Adaptive Mechanisms in Cancer Cells
Some of the advantages that cancer cells have on normal cells include - enhanced ability to divide without terminally differentiating, induce new blood vessel formation,...
Protein Glycosylation
Glycosylation occurs in...
Psychoneuroimmunology: Diabetes and Cancer
Metastasis
Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition
The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition or EMT is a developmental process commonly observed in wound healing, embryogenesis, and cancer metastasis. EMT is induced by transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) or receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) ligands, which further...
What is Cancer?
Although people have known about cancer for centuries, it was only in 1761 that Giovanni Morgagni of Padua performed a detailed autopsy of...
Tumor Progression
Colon cancer is one of the best-documented examples of tumor progression. Early mutation in the APC gene in colon cells causes a small growth on the colon wall called a polyp. With time, this polyp grows into a benign, pre-cancerous tumor. Further...

