The goal of our study is to identify serologic markers that complement alpha fetoprotein (AFP) and its core- fucosylated analog (AFP-L3) in the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) at a treatable stage. We and others have shown that major re-distribution of protein N-glycoforms occurs at the premalignant stage of liver cirrhosis. Our latest studies show that high mannose, core- and outer arm- fucosylated glycoforms of specific glycopeptides increase in HCC. These glycoforms are associated with liver secreted glycoproteins and are detectable in serum. In this study, we analyze liver secreted glycoproteins carrying these HCC specific N- glycan modifications by newly developed LC-MS-MRM targeted quantification methods. This is done because AFP and ultrasonography detect only approximately 60% of HCC cases and additional markers are needed to improve sensitivity of screening for this malignancy with continuously increasing incidence. Our data suggests that quantification of specific glycoforms of specific glycoprotein peptides offers the highest diagnostic accuracy. The optimized glycosidase assisted LC-MS-MRM methods allow, for the first time, targeted validation of the site specific glycopeptide marker candidates. Defining clinically applicable markers of HCC has potentially far-reaching consequences for disease management and patient health. Our study is expected to generate new hypotheses on the functional impact of protein glycosylation on the development of cancer and to stimulate new line of cancer detection research.

Public Health Relevance

Early detection of cancer improves patient survival. Our study seeks to identify new biomarkers for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma, which is a cancer with steadily rising incidence in the United States. Improved detection of hepatocellular carcinoma would have a direct impact on the management and outcome of this disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01CA135069-09
Application #
9530543
Study Section
Cancer Biomarkers Study Section (CBSS)
Program Officer
Zanetti, Krista A
Project Start
2008-07-01
Project End
2020-07-31
Budget Start
2018-08-01
Budget End
2019-07-31
Support Year
9
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Georgetown University
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
049515844
City
Washington
State
DC
Country
United States
Zip Code
20057
Kozlik, Petr; Goldman, Radoslav; Sanda, Miloslav (2018) Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography in the separation of glycopeptides and their isomers. Anal Bioanal Chem 410:5001-5008
Fan, Yu; Hu, Yu; Yan, Cheng et al. (2018) Loss and gain of N-linked glycosylation sequons due to single-nucleotide variation in cancer. Sci Rep 8:4322
Sanda, Miloslav; Zhang, Lihua; Edwards, Nathan J et al. (2017) Site-specific analysis of changes in the glycosylation of proteins in liver cirrhosis using data-independent workflow with soft fragmentation. Anal Bioanal Chem 409:619-627
Kozlik, Petr; Sanda, Miloslav; Goldman, Radoslav (2017) Nano reversed phase versus nano hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography on a chip in the analysis of hemopexin glycopeptides. J Chromatogr A 1519:152-155
Darebna, Petra; Novak, Petr; Kucera, Radek et al. (2017) Changes in the expression of N- and O-glycopeptides in patients with colorectal cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma quantified by full-MS scan FT-ICR and multiple reaction monitoring. J Proteomics 153:44-52
Kozlik, Petr; Goldman, Radoslav; Sanda, Miloslav (2017) Study of structure-dependent chromatographic behavior of glycopeptides using reversed phase nanoLC. Electrophoresis 38:2193-2199
Wang, Mengjun; Sanda, Miloslav; Comunale, Mary Ann et al. (2017) Changes in the Glycosylation of Kininogen and the Development of a Kininogen-Based Algorithm for the Early Detection of HCC. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 26:795-803
Flowers, Sarah A; Zhou, Xin; Wu, Jing et al. (2016) Expression of the extracellular sulfatase SULF2 is associated with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Oncotarget 7:43177-43187
Sanda, Miloslav; Benicky, Julius; Wu, Jing et al. (2016) Increased sialylation of site specific O-glycoforms of hemopexin in liver disease. Clin Proteomics 13:24
Sanda, Miloslav; Goldman, Radoslav (2016) Data Independent Analysis of IgG Glycoforms in Samples of Unfractionated Human Plasma. Anal Chem 88:10118-10125

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