Urinary glycan markers for disease.
Robust assays for the isolation and characterization of urinary FOS (free oligosaccharides) have been developed to screen patients for altered protein and/or lipid glycosylation. A FOS analysis can therefore identify potential biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma, since variations in glycosylation as a result of tumorigenecity should be detectable in the FOS of patients. HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) accounts for 80-90% of all liver cancers. It occurs more often in men than women and occurs mostly in people 50-60 years old. The disease is more common in parts of Africa and Asia than in North or South America and Europe. Using a combination of solid-phase extraction techniques and affinity chromatography, followed by separation of urinary FOS by NP (normal phase)-HPLC and HIAX (hydrophilic interaction and anion-exchange)-HPLC, more than 200 different species have been identified in patient samples. The high incidence of small sialylated oligosaccharides in HCC patients suggests that pro-inflammatory markers may be detected as early indicators of disease progression. In addition, the methods developed here to isolate and analyse excreted glycoprotein- and glycosphingolipid-bound oligosaccharides have been used to characterize changes in metabolic processes that underlie a number of human genetic disorders. The ability to predict disease status in microlitre amounts of readily available non-invasive urine samples indicates that rapid methods for screening can be developed.
Oxford Glycobiology Institute, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, UK.
Dominic S
DS
Alonzi
Ying-Hsiu
YH
Su
Terry D
TD
Butters
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000652:urine*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000652:urine; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D018450:Disease Progression; D006031:Glycosylation; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000652:urine; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000652:urine*
D015415:Biomarkers; D011134:Polysaccharides