(0726) Serum N-GLYCAN Profiling as a Potential Biomarker in Patients With Oropharyngeal Cancer

Introduction: To investigate the expression of serum glycans and estimate their diagnostic impact in patients with oropharyngeal cancer.

Methods: Twenty-eight patients who were diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer were enrolled in this study. To evaluate the diagnostic impact of detected glycan, we gathered 19 samples(serum and tissue) from patients who underwent tonsillectomy as control group. We examined serum glycosylation changes through performing combined analysis with protein-specific immunoaffinity purification, glycan release, and mass spectrometry.

Results: Thirteen glycan candidates were identified that distinguished the oropharyngeal cancer group from the control group with a normalized intensity protocol (P < 0.05). Among them, we selected 5 glycans (6_5_1_2, 3_5_1_0, 4_5_1_1, 4_5_0_0, 4_3_0_1) with highly significant value with absolute intensity protocol (P < 0.05) as candidate serum markers to divide into the oropharyngeal cancer group and the control group.

Conclusions: Glycan profiling help to discriminate between the oropharyngeal cancer group and the control group. This preliminary study suggested that analysis of serum N- glycan profiling may be a useful diagnostic tool for oropharyngeal cancer.