Plasma N-glycans in colorectal cancer risk

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 8655 - 12
• Main Authors: Doherty, Margaret, Theodoratou, Evropi, Walsh, Ian, Adamczyk, Barbara, Stöckmann, Henning, Agakov, Felix, Timofeeva, Maria, Trbojević-Akmačić, Irena, Vučković, Frano, Duffy, Fergal, McManus, Ciara A., Farrington, Susan M., Dunlop, Malcolm G., Perola, Markus, Lauc, Gordan, Campbell, Harry, Rudd, Pauline M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05-06-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/53/2421; 692/699/1503; acetylglucosaminyltransferase v; arthritis; Biomarkers; Blood Proteins - chemistry; Cancer and Oncology; Cancer och onkologi; Case-Control Studies; Cell and Molecular Biology; Cell- och molekylärbiologi; Colorectal cancer; Colorectal carcinoma; Colorectal Neoplasms - epidemiology; Colorectal Neoplasms - pathology; disease; Female; glycome; glycoprofiling platform; Glycosylation; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; igg; Male; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; N-glycans; Neoplasm Staging; ovarian-cancer; Plasma; Polysaccharides; Polysaccharides - blood; requirements; Risk Assessment; Risk groups; Science; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Science (multidisciplinary); serum glycoproteins; Statistical analysis; structural
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-26805-7

Aberrant glycosylation has been associated with a number of diseases including cancer. Our aim was to elucidate changes in whole plasma
N
-glycosylation between colorectal cancer (CRC) cases and controls in one of the largest cohorts of its kind. A set of 633 CRC patients and 478 age and gender matched controls was analysed. Additionally, patients were stratified into four CRC stages. Moreover,
N
-glycan analysis was carried out in plasma of 40 patients collected prior to the initial diagnosis of CRC. Statistically significant differences were observed in the plasma
N
-glycome at all stages of CRC, this included a highly significant decrease in relation to the core fucosylated bi-antennary glycans F(6)A2G2 and F(6)A2G2S(6)1 (
P
 < 0.0009). Stage 1 showed a unique biomarker signature compared to stages 2, 3 and 4. There were indications that at risk groups could be identified from the glycome (retrospective AUC = 0.77 and prospective AUC = 0.65).
N-
glycome biomarkers related to the pathogenic progress of the disease would be a considerable asset in a clinical setting and it could enable novel therapeutics to be developed to target the disease in patients at risk of progression.