Glycosylation Change in Cancer as Therapeutic Target: Opportunities and Challenges

Abstract

Copyright: © 2013 Yu LG. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Alterations in cell surface glycosylation are common features in cancer. Many of these glycosylation changes result in expression of cancer-associated carbohydrate antigens such as Tn (GalNAcαSer/Thr), sialyl-Tn (sialic acid-β1,6GalNAcα-Ser/Thr), TF(Galβ1,3 GalNAcα-Ser/Thr) and Lewis-related carbohydrate structures. These glycosylation changes have offered multiple opportunities for potential therapeutic treatment of cancer.