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Serum glycan levels may be predictive of gastric cancer
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Differences in serum levels of four types of glycans can be detected in patients with gastric cancer, suggesting that glycomics may have predictive utility in the diagnosis of the disease, according to study results.
Researchers used mass spectrometry study to analyze 72 blood samples collected from patients who presented at the gastroenterology unit of the Mexico General Hospital, Secretaria de Salud and the Oncology Hospital at Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social between October 1999 and July 2002.
All patients were aged at least 30 years, and they were scheduled for endoscopy and general biopsy for gastroduodenal symptoms or suspected gastric cancer.
Diagnostic testing enabled the researchers to identify for analysis 36 patients who had gastric cancer, as well as a control group of 18 patients with non-atrophic gastritis. A group of 18 patients diagnosed with duodenal ulcer also was included in the study to determine whether duodenal ulcer might have a gastric cancer-protective glycan signature.
Biopsy samples were formalin fixed, paraffin embedded, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin for histologic assessment. Glycans were released from serum samples and analyzed using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (MALDI FT-ICR) mass spectrometry. Glycan distribution was determined based on mass.
Among the diagnostic groups, 19 glycans were found to show significant variations in serum levels. Overall, lower levels of high-mannose type glycans, glycans with one complex type antenna and bigalactosylated biantennary glycans were seen in patients with gastric cancer.
Conversely, increased levels of non-galactosylated biantennary glycans were seen in the group with gastric cancer.
In the group with duodenal ulcer, variations in the levels of six glycans were seen, but these changes were almost entirely in the same direction as in the group with gastric cancer. This implies that a gastric cancer-protective glycan signature cannot be observed in duodenal ulcer.
“These glycans potentially provide predictive signatures for the detection of gastric cancer,” the researchers wrote. “Further studies are needed to identify disease pathways from a glycomics point of view, and provide new leads for the development of biomarkers for the early detection of gastric cancer.”
Disclosure: The researchers report funding from NIH, as well as support from the Converging Research Center Program via the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
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