Antibodies against glycoproteins identified as abnormal biomarkers for the diagnosis of cancer can
An antibody is a type of protein that the body’s immune system produces when it encounters harmful substances, called antigens. Antigens are microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. The antibodies are also produced when the immune system mistakenly considers that healthy tissue a harmful substance. Research has shown that cancer patients sometimes are autoantibodies directed against malignant cells and tissues as part of an immune response against the tumor. It ‘hard to understand why some cancer cells avoid the immune system. Scientists hope that these antibodies may ultimately have the potential to help doctors detect cancer by a simple blood test.Although large series of samples should be analyzed to fully assess the clinical value of this technology, the preliminary results are very promising.
The study was an international collaboration that has been funded in part by the NCI through the trans-NIH Alliance Glycobiologists for cancer detection and cancer risk. The Alliance is a consortium of laboratories supported by the NCI cancer glycomics work to reveal the dynamics of complex carbohydrates linked to cancer and to develop biomarkers for early cancer detection and risk assessment.
With emerging technologies such as those used in this study, scientists have identified biomarkers based on party (sugar) in a glycoprotein that may be new targets for early detection and diagnosis of certain cancers, said Sudhir Srivastava, PhD., MPH, head of research on biomarkers for cancer of the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention.
Michael Hollingsworth, Ph.D., Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases, University of Nebraska at Omaha, and Henrik Clausen, MD, Ph.D. Center for Glycomics, University of Copenhagen, lead one of the laboratories glycomics cancer. Other scientists of the Center for Glycomics, University of Copenhagen, Kings College School of Medicine, Guy Hospital, London and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, has collaborated in this research.
Scientists have found that patients produce antibodies that affect abnormal glycoproteins (proteins with sugar molecules attached) made by their tumors. The result of this work suggests that anti-tumor activity in the blood can provide a rich source of biomarkers sensitive for the detection of cancer. The study, funded in part by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, appears in the February 15, 2010 issue of the journal Cancer Research.
Glycoproteins that have been the subject of this study are called mucins. Mucins are a family of glycoproteins, called O-glycoproteins, which are on the outer surface of cells and play an important role in cell-cell interactions. The tumors were found to produce different types and amounts of mucin than normal cells and produce mucins that have altered sugar groups.
For more information on the Alliance of Glycobiologists for the detection of cancer and cancer risk examination.