A group of Quilmes National University, Bernal, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina has reported characteristic glycan modification in gliomas.
https://www.oncotarget.com/article/27850/text/
In high-grade gliomas, its glycan modification is characterized by the progression of terminal sialic acid of N-glycans and multi-antennary N-glycans. The sialic acid modification is mainly α2-3 linkage along with the terminal fucosylation, suggesting that the terminal modification structure of N-glycans is SLex. To support this, glycosyltransferases (α1,3-fucosyltransperases (FuT3-7 and 9-11) and α2,3-sialyltransferases (ST3Gal3/4/6) ) are also highly expressed.
They concluded that changes in the glycan profile of tumor cell surfaces are the basis for the development of therapeutic drugs targeting such aberrant glycans and novel glycan markers.
