Mass spectrometry for glycan biomarker discovery

Abstract

The association between aberrant glycosylation of proteins and many cancers, and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases has been known for many years. Altered glycosylation can occur at the onset and during disease progression and identifying these changes at an early stage may greatly increase survival and improve quality of life. However, the identification of these biomarkers has not been easy, mainly due to the structural diversity and numerous possible glycan isomers. Fortunately, glycomics is becoming more feasible due to major improvements in mass spectrometry and separation science. The present review discusses recent methods for mass-spectrometry (MS) based glycomics for the identification of glycan biomarkers. Recent MS techniques with and without coupling to liquid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis or ion mobility spectrometry are described, and the most recent glycan biomarker studies are presented and future prospects discussed.