Glyco‐biomarkers: Potential Determinants of Cellular Physiology and Pathology

Abstract

Once dismissed as just the icing on the cake, sugar molecules are emerging as vital components in life’s intricate machinery. Our understanding of their function within the context of the proteins and lipids to which they are attached has matured rapidly, and with it the far reaching clinical implications are becoming understood.Recent advances in high-throughput glycomic techniques, glyco biomarker profiling, glyco-bioinformatics and development of increasingly sophisticated glyco-arrays, combined with our increased understanding of the molecular details of glycosylation have facilitated the linkage between aberrant glycosylation and human diseases, and highlighted the possibility of using glyco-biomarkers as potential determinants of disease and its progression.The focus of this review is to give an insight into the biological significance of these glycomodifications, highlight some specific examples of glyco-biomarkers in relation to autoimmunity and in particular rheumatoid arthritis, and to explore the exciting possibility of exploiting these for diagnostic and prognostic strategies.

The diagnostic role of Procalcitonin and other biomarkers in discriminating infectious from non-infectious fever

“…The relationship between glycosylation and infection still has to be elucidated. 34 Serum levels of VEGF correlate well with RA disease severity and swollen joint counts. VEGF might play an important part in the establishment and promotion of RA and might serve as a marker for disease activity, with a more active disease being associated with higher serum levels.…”

Glycosylation as a marker for inflammatory arthritis

“…Reduced IgG galactosylation has also been observed in other arthritis-related diseases, for example SLE [42,52]. Truncated IgG glycans result in antigenicity and cause an altered immune response of these antibodies, as has extensively been reviewed by Alavi et al and Gornik et al [53][54][55]. These IgGs can bind to and trigger the production of autoantibodies [56], bind to pathogenic rheumatoid factor (Rf) [57,58] and are prone to form immune complexes [59,60].…”

Siglec‐1 and ‐2 as potential biomarkers in autoimmune disease

“…This concentration positively correlates with disease severity in RA patients, suggesting a potential role of IgG0 as a biomarker for disease activity [22,23]. IgG0 also shows good correlation with biomarkers of AD in general, including inflammatory markers Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein, which increase in early disease [24].…”