N-glycolylneuraminic acid as a carbohydrate cancer biomarker

Jing Wang; Lucy K Shewell; Christopher J Day; Michael P Jennings

doi:10.1016/j.tranon.2023.101643

N-glycolylneuraminic acid as a carbohydrate cancer biomarker

Transl Oncol. 2023 May:31:101643. doi: 10.1016/j.tranon.2023.101643. Epub 2023 Feb 18.

Authors

Jing Wang¹, Lucy K Shewell¹, Christopher J Day¹, Michael P Jennings²

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia.
² Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia. Electronic address: m.jennings@griffith.edu.au.

Abstract

One of the forms of aberrant glycosylation in human tumors is the expression of N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc). The only known enzyme to biosynthesize Neu5Gc in mammals, cytidine-5'-monophosphate-N-acetylneuraminic acid (CMAH), appears to be genetically inactivated in humans. Regardless, low levels of Neu5Gc have been detected in healthy humans. Therefore, it is proposed that the presence of Neu5Gc in humans is from dietary acquisition, such as red meat. Notably, detection of elevated Neu5Gc levels has been repeatedly found in cancer tissues, cells and serum samples, thereby Neu5Gc-containing antigens may be exploited as a class of cancer biomarkers. Here we review the findings to date on using Neu5Gc-containing tumor glycoconjugates as a class of cancer biomarkers for cancer detection, surveillance, prognosis and therapeutic targets. We review the evidence that supports an emerging hypothesis of de novo Neu5Gc biosynthesis in human cancer cells as a source of Neu5Gc in human tumors, generated under certain metabolic conditions.

Keywords: Cancer biomarker; Detection; N-glycolylneuraminic acid; Neu5Gc; Prognosis.

Publication types

Review