title: Naturally occurring anti-glycan antibodies binding to Globo H-expressing cells identify ovarian cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Glycosphingolipids are important compounds of the plasma membrane of mammalian cells and a number of them have been associated with malignant transformation and progression, reinforcing tumour aggressiveness and metastasis. Here we investigated the levels of naturally occurring anti-glycan antibodies to Globo H in blood plasma obtained from high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients (SOC) and women without gynaecological malignancies (control) using suspension glycan array technology employing chemically synthesized glycans as antibody targets.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that anti-human Globo H IgG antibodies were able to significantly discriminate SOC from controls (P < 0.05). A combination with the clinically used tumour marker CA125 increased the diagnostic performance (AUC 0.8711). We next compared suspension array with standard flow cytometry in plasma samples and found that the level of anti-Globo H antibodies highly correlated (r = 0.992). The incubation of plasma-derived anti-glycan antibodies with chemically synthesized (presented on fluorescence microspheres) and native Globo H (expressed on Globo H-positive cell lines) revealed strong reactivity of naturally occurring human anti-Globo H antibodies towards its antigen expressed on ovarian cancer cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrate that human plasma-derived antibodies to Globo H as well as the presence of the antigen might be considered as therapeutic option in ovarian cancer.
authors.affiliation: Ovarian Cancer Research, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pochechueva
authors.affiliation: Ovarian Cancer Research, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.|Glyco-Oncology, Ovarian Cancer Research, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Shahidul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.affiliation: Ovarian Cancer Research, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schötzau
authors.affiliation: Shemyakin- Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997, Moscow, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chinarev
authors.affiliation: Shemyakin- Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997, Moscow, Russian Federation.
authors.forename: Nicolai V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Bovin
authors.affiliation: Royal Hospital for Women, Gynecological Cancer Centre, School of Women's and Children's Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Neville F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Hacker
authors.affiliation: Ovarian Cancer Research, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. francis.jacob@unibas.ch.|Glyco-Oncology, Ovarian Cancer Research, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. francis.jacob@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.affiliation: Ovarian Cancer Research, Department of Biomedicine, University Hospital Basel, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Viola.Heinzelmann@usb.ch.|Hospital for Women, Department of Gynecology and Gynaecological Oncology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Viola.Heinzelmann@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Viola
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Heinzelmann-Schwarz
mesh_terms: D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate / Q000276:immunology*; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D018284:Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005936:Glucans / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology*; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D015295:Antigens, Tumor-Associated, Carbohydrate; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C472765:Globo-H; D005936:Glucans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G
keywords: Glycan; Glycosphingolipids; Ovarian cancer; Suspension array