Biochimica et biophysica acta
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Biochim. Biophys. Acta · Aug 2016
ReviewImmune recruitment or suppression by glycan engineering of endogenous and therapeutic antibodies.
Human serum IgG contains multiple glycoforms which exhibit a range of binding properties to effector molecules such as cellular Fc receptors. Emerging knowledge of how the Fc glycans contribute to the antibody structure and effector functions has opened new avenues for the exploitation of defined antibody glycoforms in the treatment of diseases. ⋯ We discuss wide ranging applications of antibody glycoengineering in the treatment of cancer, autoimmunity and inflammation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Glycans in personalised medicine" Guest Editor: Professor Gordan Lauc.
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Biochim. Biophys. Acta · Aug 2016
ReviewMethods for the absolute quantification of N-glycan biomarkers.
Many treatment options especially for cancer show a low efficacy for the majority of patients demanding improved biomarker panels for patient stratification. Changes in glycosylation are a hallmark of many cancers and inflammatory diseases and show great potential as clinical disease markers. The large inter-subject variability in glycosylation due to hereditary and environmental factors can complicate rapid transfer of glycan markers into the clinical practice but also presents an opportunity for personalized medicine. ⋯ Glycan biomarkers have a huge potential as disease markers for personalized medicine. The use of stable isotope labeled glycans as internal standards and heavy-isotope labeling methods will provide the necessary method precision and robustness acceptable for clinical use. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Glycans in personalized medicine" Guest Editor: Professor Gordan Lauc.
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Biochim. Biophys. Acta · Aug 2016
ReviewGlycomics and glycoproteomics focused on aging and age-related diseases--Glycans as a potential biomarker for physiological alterations.
Since glycosylation depends on glycosyltransferases, glycosidases, and sugar nucleotide donors, it is susceptible to the changes associated with physiological and pathological conditions. Therefore, alterations in glycan structures may be good targets and biomarkers for monitoring health conditions. Since human aging and longevity are affected by genetic and environmental factors such as diseases, lifestyle, and social factors, a scale that reflects various environmental factors is required in the study of human aging and longevity. ⋯ Alterations in glycosylation may be good targets and biomarkers for monitoring health conditions, and be applicable to studies on age-related diseases and healthy aging. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Glycans in personalised medicine" Guest Editor: Professor Gordan Lauc.
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Biochim. Biophys. Acta · Aug 2016
ReviewApplications of ion mobility mass spectrometry for high throughput, high resolution glycan analysis.
Diverse varieties of often heterogeneous glycans are ubiquitous in nature. They play critical roles in recognition events, act as energy stores and provide structural stability at both molecular and cellular levels. Technologies capable of fully elucidating the structures of glycans are far behind the other '-omic' fields. Liquid chromatography (LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) are currently the most useful techniques for high-throughput analysis of glycans. However, these techniques do not provide full unambiguous structural information and instead the gap in full sequence assignment is frequently filled by a priori knowledge of the biosynthetic pathways and the assumption that these pathways are highly conserved. ⋯ IM-MS is a promising technique that fills an important gap within the Glycomics toolbox, namely identifying and differentiating the three-dimensional structure of chemically similar carbohydrates and glycoconjugates. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Glycans in personalised medicine" Guest Editor: Professor Gordan Lauc.
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Biochim. Biophys. Acta · Aug 2016
ReviewShort O-GalNAc glycans: regulation and role in tumor development and clinical perspectives.
While the underlying causes of cancer are genetic modifications, changes in cellular states mediate cancer development. Tumor cells display markedly changed glycosylation states, of which the O-GalNAc glycans called the Tn and TF antigens are particularly common. How these antigens get over-expressed is not clear. The expression levels of glycosylation enzymes fail to explain it. ⋯ Many attempts to use O-glycans for biomarker, antibody and therapeutic vaccine development have been made, but suffer limitations including poor sensitivity and/or specificity that may in part derive from lack of a mechanistic understanding. Deciphering how short O-GalNAc glycans are regulated would open new perspectives to exploit this biology for therapeutic usage. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Glycans in personalised medicine" Guest Editor: Professor Gordan Lauc.