Glycan Signatures on Gastric Cancer Cells

Glycosylation, which is highly sensitive to the external environment, has been considered as a window reflecting physiological state of cell. Since abnormal glycans are a hallmark of diseases, the characterization of glycans is gaining attention in biomarker research for treatment and diagnosis. In particular, gastric cancer (GC) with various subtypes has highly different clinical results for each patient. Although gastric cancer patients are classified into different subgroups according to genetic profiling and clinical symptoms, targeted treatment is difficult. In this study, we have characterized the glycans obtained from representative GC cell lines including SNU-1, SNU-16, SNU-5, NCI-N87, AGS, KATO-Ⅲ, MNK-45 and MKN-74. In order to selectively separate the glycans located on the cell surface, the cell membrane extraction was first performed. Subsequently, glycans were enzymatically released, enriched and profiled via PGC nanoLC/MS and LC/MS/MS. Using normalized glycan intensity, a correlation among GC cell lines was examined through hierarchical analysis. The heterogeneity of each cell line was distinguished by moietise of glycans such as fucosylation, sialylation, LacdiNAc and bisecting structures. These results suggested that the glycan signatures of each cell line can differentiate GC cell lines. A deeper understanding of glycan profiling in different subtypes of gastric cancer may provide important clues for precision medicine and tumor targeted treatment.