Antibody recognition of aberrant glycosylation on the surface of cancer cells

Caroline Soliman, Elizabeth Yuriev, Paul Ramsland

Research output: Contribution to journalReview ArticleResearchpeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Carbohydrate-binding antibodies and carbohydrate-based vaccines are being actively pursued as targeted immunotherapies for a broad range of cancers. Recognition of tumor-associated carbohydrates (glycans) by antibodies is predominantly towards terminal epitopes on glycoproteins and glycolipids on the surface of cancer cells. Crystallography along with complementary experimental and computational methods have been extensively used to dissect antibody recognition of glycan epitopes commonly found in cancer. We provide an overview of the structural biology of antibody recognition of tumor-associated glycans and propose potential rearrangements of these targets in the membrane that could dictate the complex biological activities of these antibodies against cancer cells.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-8
Number of pages8
JournalCurrent Opinion in Structural Biology
Volume44
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2017

Cite this