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. 2022 May 24;9(6):34.
doi: 10.3390/medicines9060034.

Glycobiology of Cancer: Sugar Drives the Show

Jhenifer Santos Dos Reis  1 , Marcos André Rodrigues da Costa Santos  1 , Daniella Pereira Mendonça  1 , Stefani Ingrid Martins do Nascimento  1 , Pedro Marçal Barcelos  1 , Rafaela Gomes Correia de Lima  1 , Kelli Monteiro da Costa  1 , Celio Geraldo Freire-de-Lima  1 , Alexandre Morrot  2   3 , Jose Osvaldo Previato  1 , Lucia Mendonça Previato  1 , Leonardo Marques da Fonseca  1 , Leonardo Freire-de-Lima  1
Affiliations

Glycobiology of Cancer: Sugar Drives the Show

Jhenifer Santos Dos Reis et al. Medicines (Basel). .

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.

Keywords: cancer; glycome; glycomedicine; glycosylation; glycosyltransferases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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