Glycans as cancer biomarkers Adamczyk, Barbara; Tharmalingam, Tharmala; Rudd, Pauline M.
Biochimica et biophysica acta,
09/2012, Volume:
1820, Issue:
9
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Non-invasive biomarkers, such as those from serum, are ideal for disease prognosis, staging and monitoring. In the past decade, our understanding of the importance of glycosylation changes with ...disease has evolved.
We describe potential biomarkers derived from serum glycoproteins for liver, pancreatic, prostate, ovarian, breast, lung and stomach cancers. Methods for glycan analysis have progressed and newly developed high-throughput platform technologies have enabled the analysis of large cohorts of samples in an efficient manner. We also describe this evolution and trends to follow in the future.
Many convincing examples of aberrant glycans associated with cancer have come about from glycosylation analyses. Most studies have been carried out to identify changes in serum glycan profiles or through the isolation and identification of glycoproteins that contain these irregular glycan structures. In a majority of cancers the fucosylation and sialylation expression are found to be significantly modified. Therefore, these aberrations in glycan structures can be utilized as targets to improve existing cancer biomarkers.
The ability to distinguish differences in the glycosylation of proteins between cancer and control patients emphasizes glycobiology as a promising field for potential biomarker identification. Furthermore, the high-throughput and reproducible nature of the chromatography platform have highlighted extensive applications in biomarker discovery and allowed integration of glycomics with other -omics fields, such as proteomics and genomics, making systems glycobiology a reality. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Glycoproteomics.
► Protein glycosylation has a significant impact in disease progression and states. ► Glycobiomarkers for prostate, ovarian, breast, lung and stomach cancers are defined. ► Glycan analysis has evolved from single sample to high-throughput analysis. ► Glycan analysis technology advancements allow for collaborations with other fields.
Protein glycosylation is an important post-translational modification. It is a feature that enhances the functional diversity of proteins and influences their biological activity. A wide range of ...functions for glycans have been described, from structural roles to participation in molecular trafficking, self-recognition and clearance. Understanding the basis of these functions is challenging because the biosynthetic machinery that constructs glycans executes sequential and competitive steps that result in a mixture of glycosylated variants (glycoforms) for each glycoprotein. Additionally, naturally occurring glycoproteins are often present at low levels, putting pressure on the sensitivity of the analytical technologies. No universal method for the rapid and reliable identification of glycan structure is currently available; hence, research goals must dictate the best method or combination of methods. To this end, we introduce some of the major technologies routinely used for structural N- and O-glycan analysis, describing the complementary information that each provides.
Glycosylation of the Fc region of IgG has a profound impact on the safety and clinical efficacy of therapeutic antibodies. While the biantennary complex-type oligosaccharide attached to Asn297 of the ...Fc is essential for antibody effector functions, fucose and outer-arm sugars attached to the core heptasaccharide that generate structural heterogeneity (glycoforms) exhibit unique biological activities. Hence, efficient and quantitative glycan analysis techniques have been increasingly important for the development and quality control of therapeutic antibodies, and glycan profiles of the Fc are recognized as critical quality attributes. In the past decade our understanding of the influence of glycosylation on the structure/function of IgG-Fc has grown rapidly through X-ray crystallographic and nuclear magnetic resonance studies, which provides possibilities for the design of novel antibody therapeutics. Furthermore, the chemoenzymatic glycoengineering approach using endoglycosidase-based glycosynthases may facilitate the development of homogeneous IgG glycoforms with desirable functionality as nextgeneration therapeutic antibodies. Thus, the Fc glycans are fertile ground for the improvement of the safety, functionality, and efficacy of therapeutic IgG antibodies in the era of precision medicine.
•Glycosylation of antibodies has a range of effects on their binding and effector functions.•Regulatory agencies require stringent glycan analysis to ensure safety and efficacy.•Many tools are ...available to address different questions in glycan analysis.•Glycosylation is influenced by the host cell line, the cell culture and purification processes.•Controlling glycosylation requires a systems biology understanding and integrated approach.
Glycosylation of therapeutic proteins has a profound impact on their safety and efficacy. Many factors shape the glycosylation of biotherapeutics, ranging from expression systems and cell culture processes to downstream purification strategies. Various analytical technologies have been developed to address questions concerning different aspects of glycosylation. Informatics tools are also crucial for a systematic understanding of the glycosylation processes. Hence, an integrated approach is required to harness glycosylation for the production of optimal and consistent glycoprotein-based therapeutic drugs. Here, we review the latest developments and challenges in glycosylation analysis and control in the context of bioprocessing monoclonal antibodies.
This review provides an integrated roadmap for evaluating the impact of glycosylation in the development and production of biopharmaceuticals, and the associated challenges in glycosylation analysis and process control.
The present study was conducted to obtain a comprehensive overview of oligosaccharides present in the milk of a variety of important domestic animals including cows, goats, sheep, pigs, horses and ...dromedary camels. Using an analytical workflow that included ultra-performance liquid chromatography-hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight MS, detailed oligosaccharide libraries were established. The partial or full characterisation of the neutral/fucosylated, phosphorylated and sialylated structures was facilitated by sequencing with linkage- and sugar-specific exoglycosidases. Relative peak quantification of the 2-aminobenzamide-labelled oligosaccharides provided additional information. Milk from domestic animals contained a much larger variety of complex oligosaccharides than was previously assumed, and thirteen of these structures have been identified previously in human milk. The direct comparison of the oligosaccharide mixtures reflects their role in the postnatal maturation of different types of gastrointestinal systems, which, in this way, are prepared for certain post-weaning diets. The potential value of animal milk for the commercial extraction of oligosaccharides to be used in human and animal health is highlighted.
Metabolic modeling has emerged as a key tool for the characterization of biopharmaceutical cell culture processes. Metabolic models have also been instrumental in identifying genetic engineering ...targets and developing feeding strategies that optimize the growth and productivity of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Despite their success, metabolic models of CHO cells still present considerable challenges. Genome‐scale metabolic models (GeMs) of CHO cells are very large (>6000 reactions) and are difficult to constrain to yield physiologically consistent flux distributions. The large scale of GeMs also makes the interpretation of their outputs difficult. To address these challenges, we have developed CHOmpact, a reduced metabolic network that encompasses 101 metabolites linked through 144 reactions. Our compact reaction network allows us to deploy robust, nonlinear optimization and ensure that the computed flux distributions are physiologically consistent. Furthermore, our CHOmpact model delivers enhanced interpretability of simulation results and has allowed us to identify the mechanisms governing shifts in the anaplerotic consumption of asparagine and glutamate as well as an important mechanism of ammonia detoxification within mitochondria. CHOmpact, thus, addresses key challenges of large‐scale metabolic models and will serve as a platform to develop dynamic metabolic models for the control and optimization of biopharmaceutical cell culture processes.
CHOmpact presents a reduced metabolic model for CHO cell metabolism and a novel nonlinear objective function. The framework yields intracellular fluxes with increased biological consistency that are easier to analyze and, thereby, provides greater insight into mechanisms governing the physiology of biopharmaceutical production hosts.
One of today’s key challenges is the ability to decode the functions of complex carbohydrates in various biological contexts. To generate high-quality glycomics data in a high-throughput fashion, we ...developed a robotized and low-cost N-glycan analysis platform for glycoprofiling of immunoglobulin G antibodies (IgG), which are central players of the immune system and of vital importance in the biopharmaceutical industry. The key features include (a) rapid IgG affinity purification and sample concentration, (b) protein denaturation and glycan release on a multiwell filtration device, (c) glycan purification on solid-supported hydrazide, and (d) glycan quantification by ultra performance liquid chromatography. The sample preparation workflow was automated using a robotic liquid-handling workstation, allowing the preparation of 96 samples (or multiples thereof) in 22 h with excellent reproducibility and, thus, should greatly facilitate biomarker discovery and glycosylation monitoring of therapeutic IgGs.
Abstract
Summary
GlycoStore is a curated chromatographic, electrophoretic and mass-spectrometry composition database of N-, O-, glycosphingolipid (GSL) glycans and free oligosaccharides associated ...with a range of glycoproteins, glycolipids and biotherapeutics. The database is built on publicly available experimental datasets from GlycoBase developed in the Oxford Glycobiology Institute and then the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT). It has now been extended to include recently published and in-house data collections from the Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) A*STAR, Macquarie University and Ludger Ltd. GlycoStore provides access to approximately 850 unique glycan structure entries supported by over 8500 retention positions determined by: (i) hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (U/HPLC) and reversed phase (RP)-U/HPLC with fluorescent detection; (ii) porous graphitized carbon (PGC) chromatography in combination with ESI-MS/MS detection; and (iii) capillary electrophoresis with laser induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF). GlycoStore enhances many features previously available in GlycoBase while addressing the limitations of the data collections and model of this popular resource. GlycoStore aims to support detailed glycan analysis by providing a resource that underpins current workflows. It will be regularly updated by expert annotation of published data and data obtained from the project partners.
Availability and implementation
http://www.glycostore.org
Supplementary information
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
The mass spectrometry (MS)-based analysis of free polysaccharides and glycans released from proteins, lipids and proteoglycans increasingly relies on databases and software. Here, we review progress ...in the bioinformatics analysis of protein-released N- and O-linked glycans (N- and O-glycomics) and propose an e-infrastructure to overcome current deficits in data and experimental transparency. This workflow enables the standardized submission of MS-based glycomics information into the public repository UniCarb-DR. It implements the MIRAGE (Minimum Requirement for A Glycomics Experiment) reporting guidelines, storage of unprocessed MS data in the GlycoPOST repository and glycan structure registration using the GlyTouCan registry, thereby supporting the development and extension of a glycan structure knowledgebase.
The leading proteomic method for identifying N-glycosylated peptides is liquid chromatography coupled with tandem fragmentation mass spectrometry (LCMS/MS) followed by spectral matching of MS/MS ...fragment masses to a database of possible glycan and peptide combinations. Such database-dependent approaches come with challenges such as needing high-quality informative MS/MS spectra, ignoring unexpected glycan or peptide sequences, and making incorrect assignments because some glycan combinations are equivalent in mass to amino acids. To address these challenges, we present GlycopeptideGraphMS, a graph theoretical bioinformatic approach complementary to the database-dependent method. Using the AXL receptor tyrosine kinase (AXL) as a model glycoprotein with multiple N-glycosylation sites, we show that those LCMS features that could be grouped into graph networks on the basis of glycan mass and retention time differences were actually N-glycopeptides with the same peptide backbone but different N-glycan compositions. Conversely, unglycosylated peptides did not exhibit this grouping behavior. Furthermore, MS/MS sequencing of the glycan and peptide composition of just one N-glycopeptide in the graph was sufficient to identify the rest of the N-glycopeptides in the graph. By validating the identifications with exoglycosidase cocktails and MS/MS fragmentation, we determined the experimental false discovery rate of identifications to be 2.21%. GlycopeptideGraphMS detected more than 500 unique N-glycopeptides from AXL, triple the number found by a database search with Byonic software, and detected incorrect assignments due to a nonspecific protease cleavage. This method overcomes some limitations of the database approach and is a step closer to comprehensive automated glycoproteomics.
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