Glycosylation and cancer: moving glycomics to the forefront

Abstract

There is a long research history of studying the function of glycosylation in relation to the development and progression of different types of cancer. The technological advances of the "omic" have in the last decade have afforded many new opportunities and approaches for studying the cancer glycome. A collection of research articles has been assembled that collectively summarize the progress in this area for each type of major O-linked and N-linked glycan species and other classes of glycans, as well as what is known about specific glycans associated with individual types of cancer (brain, breast, colon, liver, lung, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate). These chapters also include descriptions of the latest cutting-edge technologies that have been developed recently for cancer glycomic studies. An introduction to these topics and highlights of emerging areas of research opportunity for cancer glycomics are presented. This includes the development of new glycomics-based cancer biomarkers and therapeutic targets, as well as different integrated cancer "omics" strategies.

Keywords: Biomarker; Cancer; Glycoproteins; Glycosylation.