Glyco-Epitope Diversity: An Evolving Area of Glycomics Research and Biomarker Discovery

Abstract

Although the term “glyco code” has only recently come into use [1-4], recognition of the carbohydrate signatures of microbes was documented nearly a century ago. In 1917, Dochez and Avery [5] found that when Pneumococci were grown in fluid media, there was a substance in the culture fluid that precipitated specifically with antisera to the same Pneumococcus. Heidelberger and Avery [6] showed that the substance recognized by the antibodies was a carbohydrate molecule and not a protein, as previously thought. It was later found that almost every microorganism expresses such glyco codes that are recognized by the host immune systems and are effective in stimulating specific antibody responses [7,8]. Such immunogenic carbohydrate moieties offen serve as key targets for development of vaccines against infectious diseases [9-13]. Tumor glycomics research in recent years has uncovered a large panel of tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens [14,15] and evidence of immune recognition of tumor-derived aberrant carbohydrates [16-20].