ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Can glycoprofiling be helpful in detecting prostate cancer?

Stefan Belicky and Jan Tkac

Department of Glycobiotechnology, Centre for Glycomics, Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, Bratislava, SK-845 38, Slovakia

E-mail: Jan.Tkac@savba.sk

Abstract: Glycans are chains of carbohydrates attached to proteins (glycoproteins and proteoglycans) or lipids (glycolipids). Glycosylation is a post-translational modification and glycans have a wide range of functions in the human body including involvement in oncological diseases. Change in a glycan structure can not only indicate the presence of a pathological process but, more importantly, in some cases also its stage. Thus, a glycan analysis has the potential to be an effective and reliable tool in cancer diagnostics. Lectins are proteins responsible for natural biorecognition of glycans; even carbohydrate moieties still attached to proteins or whole cells can be recognised by lectins, which makes them an ideal candidate for designing label-free biosensors for glycan analysis. This review seeks to summarise evidence that the glycoprofiling of biomarkers by lectin-based biosensors can be of significant help in detecting prostate cancer.

Keywords: prostate cancer – electrochemical impedance spectroscopy – lectins – glycans – biosensors – biomarkers

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1515/chempap-2015-0052

Chemical Papers 69 (1) 90–111 (2015)