Glycosylation and Antitumor Immunity

Abstract

Glycosylation and its by-product, the glycan, play a crucial role in many cellular processes. Aberrant glycan structures and mutations of the glycosylation pathway have been intricately linked with the development of cancer and more recently with cancer's ability to escape the innate immune system. This chapter aims to elucidate how glycosylation interacts with the immune system to promote tumor deviation through endogenous lectins, mutated glycosphingolipids, sialic acid domains, and more. This chapter also explores the mechanisms of glycosylation that may lead to powerful translational therapeutic tools, such as glycotransferase inhibitors, glycan/glycopeptide-based vaccines, and antibody-based immunotherapies, all of which have shown great promise clinically in the field of immuno-oncology.

Keywords: Adaptive immunity; Antitumor immunity; Glycans; Glycosylation; Immune evasion; N-linked glycosylation; O-linked glycosylation.