Interstitial fluid N-glycans serve as a proxy for serum biomarker discovery in a pilot study

Protein glycosylation is the most prevalent post-translational modification and is known to undergo profound alterations in disease. While serum N-glycosylation has been extensively studied, interstitial fluid is gaining prominence as a minimally invasive biomarker source, underscored by the widespread clinical adoption of wearable glucose monitors in diabetic patients. However, the glycomic landscape of interstitial fluid remains largely unexplored. Here, we have performed a comparative analysis of the N-glycome from interstitial fluid and matched plasma from five healthy volunteers using liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and exoglycosidase digestions. Strikingly, the interstitial fluid N-glycome closely shows overlapping profiles with the plasma of each individual, with only subtle differences that did not reach statistical significance. Glycosylation profiles were highly individualised, reinforcing the biological specificity of the glycome of each person. These findings demonstrate that interstitial fluid closely reflects systemic N-glycosylation and therefore may represent a powerful, accessible matrix for glycan biomarker discovery. They further support the development of minimally invasive or wearable technologies for monitoring glycosylation-based indicators of disease onset, progression and treatment response.