Glycomics Profiling as a Biomarker for Ovarian Cancer

 Principal Investigator: Professor Gary Leiserowitz, M.D.

50% of glycoproteins undergo aberrant glycosylation during protein translation of cancer cells. The oligosaccharides (glycans) can be stripped and isolated from their underlying proteins. A unique set of glycans fingerprints can be identified on mass spectrometry when comparing the serum of ovarian cancer patients and healthy individuals. We have completed several pilot studies now using glycomics profiling of serum from ovarian patients and healthy controls. Using a bioinformatics approach for analyzing the mass spectrometry peaks, the most informative ones are identified as glycomics profiling. When compared to the current standard, CA 125, the test performance of glycomics profiling is superior in distinguishing between ovarian cancer and healthy controls. We are currently applying to the Ovarian Cancer Research Program from the DOD to support the next phases in our project – confirming the results in well-characterized patient samples, and determining if the glycans are developed primarily by the cancer cells themselves or the surrounding stromal matrix.