Can glycoprofiling be helpful in detecting prostate cancer?

Abstract

AbstractGlycans are chains of carbohydrates attached to proteins (glycoproteins and proteoglycans) or lipids (glycolipids). Glycosylation is a post-translational modification and glycans have a wide range of functions in the human body including involvement in oncological diseases. Change in a glycan structure can not only indicate the presence of a pathological process but, more importantly, in some cases also its stage. Thus, a glycan analysis has the potential to be an effective and reliable tool in cancer diagnostics. Lectins are proteins responsible for natural biorecognition of glycans; even carbohydrate moieties still attached to proteins or whole cells can be recognised by lectins, which makes them an ideal candidate for designing label-free biosensors for glycan analysis. This review seeks to summarise evidence that the glycoprofiling of biomarkers by lectin-based biosensors can be of significant help in detecting prostate cancer.