Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
Cancer Med. 2024 Oct;13(19):e70285. doi: 10.1002/cam4.70285.
Abnormal glycosylation is associated with tumors. The clinical value of serum glycans in assessing progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients remains a challenge.
A study dynamically comparing levels of fifteen lectin-specific glycans between preoperative and postoperative serum of 65 HCC patients was conducted via lectin biochip technology. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to address associations between serum glycan levels and clinicopathological characteristics. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to evaluate the impacts of serum glycan levels on overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) of the HCC patients.
HCC patients presented significantly higher levels of the lectin-specific glycans in preoperative serum than disease-free individuals (p < 0.001 - p = 0.029), except ConA. The glycans in preoperative sera were significantly related to tumor size, pTNM, metastasis, BCLC stage, portal hypertension (PHT), and platelet count (PLT), respectively (p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic analyses indicated that tumor size and pTNM independently impact on glycan-specific lectins either LTL, UEA-I, VVL, NPL, WGA, PNA, MAL-I, SNA, or PHA-L (p = 0.003 - p = 0.044); BCLC stage and PLT were independent factors influencing the serum glycans recognizable DSA (p = 0.024) and SNA (p = 0.050), respectively. Surgical excision of tumor mass significantly reduced glycan levels in sera. Tumor differentiation, albumin, and ABO type significantly revealed independent influence on glycan-specific lectins, such as RCA-I (p = 0.024), VVL (p = 0.024), and Con A (p = 0.026) in the postoperative serum. HCC patients with high levels of VVL-binding glycans significantly benefited from a longer OS time (p = 0.016, HR: 0.460, 95% CI: 0.237-0.892) and a better PFS time (p = 0.004; HR: 0.435, 95% CI: 0.237-0.799), respectively.
Serum glycans could reflect surgical outcomes in at-risk patients and become valuable biomarkers in evaluating the progression of HCC patients.
糖基化异常与肿瘤有关。血清糖链在评估肝细胞癌（HCC）患者进展中的临床价值仍然是一个挑战。
通过凝集素芯片技术对 65 例 HCC 患者术前和术后血清中 15 种凝集素特异性糖链水平进行了动态比较研究。采用多变量逻辑回归分析探讨血清糖链水平与临床病理特征的关系。Kaplan-Meier 分析评估血清糖链水平对 HCC 患者总生存（OS）和无进展生存（PFS）的影响。
HCC 患者术前血清中凝集素特异性糖链水平明显高于无病个体（p<0.001-p=0.029），除 ConA 外。术前血清中的糖链分别与肿瘤大小、pTNM、转移、BCLC 分期、门静脉高压（PHT）和血小板计数（PLT）显著相关（p<0.05）。多变量逻辑分析表明，肿瘤大小和 pTNM 独立影响 LTL、UEA-I、VVL、NPL、WGA、PNA、MAL-I、SNA 或 PHA-L 等糖特异性凝集素（p=0.003-p=0.044）；BCLC 分期和 PLT 是影响 DSA（p=0.024）和 SNA（p=0.050）的独立因素。肿瘤切除术后肿瘤质量明显降低了血清中的糖水平。肿瘤分化、白蛋白和 ABO 型对 RCA-I（p=0.024）、VVL（p=0.024）和 ConA（p=0.026）等糖特异性凝集素有独立影响。高 VVL 结合糖链的 HCC 患者 OS 时间明显延长（p=0.016，HR：0.460，95%CI：0.237-0.892），PFS 时间更好（p=0.004；HR：0.435，95%CI：0.237-0.799）。
血清糖链可以反映高危患者的手术结果，并成为评估 HCC 患者进展的有价值的生物标志物。
