Exploiting altered glycosylation patterns in cancer: progress and challenges in diagnosis and therapy.

In this review, we describe the changes in glycosylation and expression of mucins, in particular, polymorphic epithelial mucin (PEM), the product of the MUC1 gene in tumours and normal tissues. In addition, some of the areas where exploitation of altered glycosylation patterns in tumour mucins can be used for the better understanding of the disease process and be applied for in vivo diagnosis and therapy are addressed.