Acute-phase glycoprotein N-glycome of ovarian cancer patients analyzed by CE-LIF.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most frequent cause of death from all gynecological malignancies because of its late diagnosis. As N-glycosylation is modified in the course of ovarian cancer, it is a promising source of tumor biomarkers. In this work, serum glycoproteins, depleted from albumin and IgG, were separated by 2DE. Protein spots of acute-phase proteins were identified by peptide mapping and their corresponding glycan moieties were released enzymatically, fluorescently labeled and analyzed by CE-LIF. In the positive acute-phase proteins, haptoglobin, α1-antitrypsin, and α1-antichymotrypsin, an increase of antennarity and Lewis(X) motif could be measured in EOC patients on tri- and/or tetraantennary N-glycans. Tetraantennary N-glycans containing three Lewis(X) epitopes and triantennary N-glycans containing a β(1-6) branch and a Lewis(X) epitope were only present in EOC patients. We also showed for the first time that the core-fucosylated biantennary digalactosylated N-glycan of α1-acid glycoprotein is a potential biomarker for EOC. To conclude, core-fucosylated biantennary N-glycans on α1-acid glycoprotein as well as higher antennarity and increased amounts of Lewis(X) motif on haptoglobin, α1-antitrypsin, and α1-antichymotrypsin are promising biomarkers for EOC. Nevertheless, their specificity and selectivity for the early detection of EOC should be evaluated in a larger study.