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Keywords | Diagnostics | glycome | blood | glycan | mass spectrometry | disease markers |<br />
GLYFDIS<br />
Glycans in Body Fluids- Potential<br />
for Disease Diagnostics<br />
Summary<br />
Developing eff ective tools to screen for cancer is an important<br />
endeavor and there is much research taking place to<br />
develop these tools. GLYFDIS project’s objective is to<br />
develop methods for earlier diagnostic and eff ective disease<br />
screening of prostate and pancreatic cancer that will<br />
lead to better treatment outcomes. Early diagnosis of<br />
cancer is of far greater prognostic importance than any<br />
attempts to treat the disease in its late stages. Even in cases<br />
where the eventual outcome cannot be changed, treatment<br />
is simpler and quality of life improved for those cases where<br />
early diagnosis is achieved. For this purpose, GLYFDIS proposed<br />
a method of a simple noninvasive blood testing.<br />
Accurate monitoring of a cancerous state following diagnosis<br />
can signifi cantly contribute to prognosis determination<br />
and on-line evaluation of therapeutic regimens.<br />
The most widespread and diverse post-translational modifi<br />
cation is glycosylation. The location and variation of<br />
glycans place them in a position to mediate cellular and<br />
intracellular signalling events, as well as participate in different<br />
biological processes including pathology states such<br />
as cancer. Therefore, we propose to use analyses of glycans<br />
for the diagnostics and monitoring of cancer.<br />
Problem<br />
<strong>Cancer</strong> is a signifi cant burden on individuals, families and<br />
society. The economic impact of cancer is substantial. In 2002,<br />
the overall cost of cancer, as published by the National <strong>Cancer</strong><br />
Institute, was 172 billion dollars. This does not account<br />
for the psychological toll that it takes on individuals and<br />
families.<br />
Early detection and diagnosis of cancer is based on the<br />
observation that treatment is more eff ective when the disease<br />
is detected earlier in its natural history, prior to the<br />
development of symptoms, than in an advanced stage.<br />
Diagnosis of cancer in the early stages of the disease infl uences<br />
on many aspects of life. It can signifi cantly decrease<br />
cancer-associated morbidity and mortality and to relieve<br />
the burden from patients, their families and the society.<br />
Accurate monitoring of a cancerous state following diagnosis<br />
EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS<br />
can signifi cantly contribute to prognosis determination and<br />
on-line evaluation of therapeutic regimens. Developing<br />
eff ective tools to screen for cancer is an important endeavor<br />
and there is much research taking place to develop these<br />
tools. The goal is to detect the cancer when it is localized to<br />
the organ of origin without invasion of surrounding tissues<br />
or distant organs.<br />
The GLYFDIS project will make use of glycans. Its unique<br />
diversity compared to genome or proteome makes the<br />
glycans ideal for diagnosis and monitoring of cancer. <strong>Cancer</strong>associated<br />
changes in the glycome of the tumoural tissue<br />
are very frequent. Currently the main hindrance could be<br />
the present glycome-analysis technologies that fall behind<br />
the rapidly developing genome- and proteome-analysing<br />
technologies.<br />
The group hopes to develop a non-invasive method for the<br />
early diagnosis of prostate and pancreatic cancer based on<br />
glycan analysis.<br />
Aim<br />
GLYFDIS’ main objectives are:<br />
• To optimise high-throughput methods of glycan analysis<br />
for the diagnosis of prostate and pancreatic cancer by<br />
the analysis of glycans in blood.<br />
• Identifying cancer associated glycome markers in serum<br />
samples of prostate and pancreatic cancer patients.<br />
• Developing and validating protocols for lectin-based<br />
microarrays intended for large scale screening of cancer<br />
associated glycome markers in serum samples.<br />
Expected results<br />
• To identify biomarkers using glycomic and proteomic<br />
methods together with computer based algorithms.<br />
• To develop a non-invasive, modest, diagnostic kit that<br />
will identify specifi c markers for cancer in the blood.<br />
• Constructing a website and a glycome bio-bank integrating<br />
GLYFDIS results and serving as basis for a continuously<br />
growing public glycome data-bank.<br />
• Dissemination of the information to the scientifi c community<br />
and community at large.<br />
Potential applications<br />
The project will generate knowledge relevant for non-invasive<br />
diagnosis of cancerous states with the eff ort in developing<br />
a standard protocol for diagnosis of serum samples.<br />
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