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News Release
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
New Initiative to Study the Glycobiology of Cancer Could Aid Understanding of Cancer Risk and Detection
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is funding a new $15.5 million, five-year initiative to discover, develop, and clinically validate cancer biomarkers by targeting the carbohydrate (glycan) part of a molecule. Biomarkers are substances sometimes found in the blood, other body fluids, or tissues that measure biological processes, and in addition to genes and proteins, can be complex carbohydrate (sugar) structures that are attached to protein and lipid (fat) molecules. Seven NCI-funded Tumor Glycome Laboratories are now searching for glycan-based biomarkers for melanoma, and breast, ovarian, lung, prostate, colon, and pancreatic cancers.
“Scientists have long recognized that certain sugar structures, which are attached to protein and lipid molecules, may be important as markers for cancer development,” said NCI Director John E. Niederhuber, M.D. “While this area has compelling scientific interest, its biological and chemical complexities have often discouraged investigation. Today, with the advent of advanced technologies to conduct protein and carbohydrate chemistry, research into this intriguing area has experienced renewed interest.”
Numerous studies comparing normal and tumor cells have shown that changes in the glycan structures of cells correlate with cancer development. Glycans are extremely abundant, but recent advances in technology have only now allowed a systematic study of these structures. Many protein biomarkers also have glycan components and analysis of these two molecular structures together may improve the value of tests such as those for prostate-specific antigen (PSA), CA-125, and carcinoembryonic antigen, which are sometimes used in prostate, ovarian, and colon cancer detection, respectively.
The NCI’s Tumor Glycome Laboratories are the principle component of the new trans-NIH Alliance of Glycobiologists for Detection of Cancer and Cancer Risk. The other components of the alliance are the Consortium for Functional Glycomics funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and several Glycomics and Glycotechnology Resource Centers supported by the National Center for Research Resources. The NCI’s Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) is also an alliance member, providing support for design and statistical analysis, patient accrual, and collection of clinical specimens to facilitate validation studies using EDRN’s existing components.
“Looking at different types of biomarkers and new ways to identify them is critically important to both the basic understanding of cancer and the ability to identify early cancer and risk for cancer,” said Sudhir Srivastava, Ph.D., chief of the Biomarkers Research Group in NCI’s Division of Cancer Prevention. “We believe this new Alliance of Glycobiologists will accelerate the pace of biomarker development and discovery.” The project is headed by Karl Krueger, Ph.D., a program director in the Biomarkers Research Group in NCI’s Division of Cancer Prevention.
The seven Tumor Glycome Laboratories projects funded by NCI are:
| Project Title Principal Investigator Institution |
Objectives of Project Cancer Type Under Study |
|---|---|
| Discovery and clinical validation of cancer biomarkers using printed glycan array Margaret Huflejt, Ph.D. Cellexicon, Inc. La Jolla, Calif. |
Determine the diagnostic or prognostic anti-glycan auto-antibody signatures in patients. For breast cancer, determine how many years prior to diagnosis that progression to cancer can be predicted. Breast, Ovary, Lung, Melanoma |
|
Immunogenic sugar moieties of prostate cancers |
Identify anti-glycan autoantibody signatures in prostate cancer patients. Prostate |
|
Early cancer detection and prognosis through glycomics |
Identify biomarkers from glycans released from serum glycoproteins and develop high-throughput platforms to measure biomarkers suitable for the clinic. Prostate, Ovary, Lung, Colon |
|
Glycan markers for the early detection of breast cancer |
Identify breast cancer biomarkers based on aberrant glycan modifications on defined amino acid residues of serum glycoproteins Breast |
|
Tumor glycomics laboratory for discovery of pancreatic cancer markers |
Identify glycoprotein and glycolipid biomarkers for pancreatic cancer in pancreatic ductal fluid that can also be found in serum. Develop assays for promising biomarkers. Pancreas |
|
Autoantibodies against glycopeptide epitopes as serum biomarkers of cancer |
Determine auto-antibody signatures to mucin glycopeptides in pancreatic and breast cancer patients. Pancreas, Breast |
|
Neu5Gc and Anti-Neu5Gc antibodies for detection of cancer and cancer risk |
Expand on research showing that cancer patients express cell surface glycans containing the sialic acid N-glycolylneuraminic Acid (Neu5Gc) and produce autoantibodies to these structures. Lung, Pancreas, Ovary |
For more information on the Tumor Glycome Laboratories and the NIH Alliance of Glycobiologists for Detection of Cancer and Cancer risk, visit:
- The NCI’s Division of Cancer Prevention website at: http://prevention.cancer.gov/programs-resources/groups/cb
- The National Institute of General Medical Sciences Consortium for Functional Glycomics at http://functionalglycomics.org, and
- The National Center for Research Resources’ Glycomics and Glycotechnology Research Centers at http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/Glycomics.
For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI Web site at http://www.cancer.gov or call NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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