Identification of serum N-glycans signatures in three major gastrointestinal cancers by high-throughput N-glycome profiling

Si Liu ^1,2, Jianmin Huang ³, Yuanyuan Liu ²

⁰Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350122, China.

Clinical Proteomics +

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November 28, 2024

View abstract on PubMed

Summary

This study identifies distinct serum N-glycan signatures for colorectal, esophageal squamous cell, and gastric cancers. These N-glycans offer a promising new tool for diagnosing gastrointestinal cancers and understanding disease-specific molecular changes.

Area Of Science

Biochemistry
Oncology
Glycomics

Background

Alternative N-glycosylation patterns are observed in colorectal cancer (CRC), esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), and gastric cancer (GC).
No prior comparative study has investigated serum N-glycans across these three major gastrointestinal (GI) cancers.

Purpose Of The Study

To identify specific serum N-glycan signatures for CRC, ESCC, and GC.
To develop a predictive model for differentiating between these GI cancers based on serum N-glycans.

Main Methods

Serum N-glycans profiling using high-throughput matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS).
Development of a diagnostic model using random forest machine learning.
Unsupervised machine learning for differentiating between the three GI cancers.

Main Results

Significant decreases in mannosylation and mono-galactosylation, alongside increased sialylation, were observed in serum glycoproteins across the three GI cancers.
A serum N-glycome-based predictive model achieved high discriminative power (>0.90) for cancer diagnosis.
Distinct serum N-glycome profiles and disease-specific altered N-glycans were identified for each cancer type.

Conclusions

Serum N-glycome profiles are differentially expressed in CRC, ESCC, and GC.
Serum N-glycans represent a potential new clinical tool for cancer diagnosis.
The study highlights disease-specific molecular signatures related to N-glycosylation in GI cancers.

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