3.2 Glycomics research and tumor markers
The serum N-and O-glycan profiles of patients with different types of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) at different stages and healthy controls were measured by lectin microarray analysis[61]. To compare the changes of serum glycosylation in patients with non-small cell lung cancer and the control group, and to evaluate the stage-related changes of serum glycosylation. The results showed that compared with the control group, 18 lectins in the lung adenocarcinoma group could significantly change the serum glucose type. Among them, 16 lectins showed significant serum glycoform changes in the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) group.
Although fucosylation is essential for normal biological functions, changes in fucosylation are closely related to the development and progression of tumors[62]. The core fucosylation serum level of stage I/II adenocarcinoma is significantly increased, so core fucosylation may be a potential diagnostic biomarker for early detection of lung adenocarcinoma[63]. It can be further inferred that other lectins that cause significant changes in serum glycotypes can also be used to diagnose different types and stages of non-small cell lung cancer and serve as a standard for the diagnosis of such diseases[64, 65].