Cancer cells undergo dramatic changes in carbohydrate expression during the onset and progression of the disease.  Aberrantly expressed glycans on cancer cells can serve as important targets for immune surveillance and/or for immune responses induced by cancer vaccines.  However, immune resopnses to glycans have been largely understudied due to difficulties in obtaining structurally-defined carbohydrates and measuring carbohdyrate-protein interactions.  Our group uses chemical synthesis to obtain a diverse collection of carbohydrates, which are then printed onto glass microscope slides to produce glycan microarrays.  These arrays provide a high-throughput tool to profile the repertoire of anti-glycan antibodies in human serum.  We have used this technology to evaluate immune responses induced by a poxvirus-based prostate cancer vaccine (PROSTVAC-VF) that is currently in Phase III clinical trials.  We have profiled over 140 patients from two Phase II trials and have identified serum antibodies with statistically significant correlations with overall survival.  These antibodies are promising new biomarkers for predicting which patients will respond favorably to PROSTVAC-VF.  In addition, our results have implications for improving vaccine design.

Personalizing cancer treatment with the aid of glycan array technology

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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