Noninvasive serum N-glycans associated with ovarian cancer diagnosis and precancerous lesion prediction - Research article

Sep 21, 2026

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Ovarian cancer remains a leading gynecological cause of morbidity and mortality, and the molecular links between benign precursor changes and malignant onset are still insufficiently defined. This study profiles serum N-glycome by mass spectrometry across healthy controls, benign neoplasms, and multiple ovarian cancer stages, then validates glycan-feature alterations using lectin-based ELISA. Results show OC initiation and progression linked to increased high-mannose and agalactosylation, with decreased total sialylation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

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Abstract

Introduction

Methods and Results

Mass spectrometry profiling

Lectin-based ELISA validation

Liu et al. Journal of Ovarian Research (2024) 17:26 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s13048-024-01350-2](https://doi.org/10.1186/s13048-024-01350-2) Journal of Ovarian Research RESEARCH Open Access Noninvasive serum N-glycans associated with ovarian cancer diagnosis and precancerous lesion prediction Si Liu1,2†, Chang Tu1†, Haobo Zhang1, Hanhui Huang1, Yuanyuan Liu1, Yi Wang3, Liming Cheng3, Bi‑Feng Liu 1, Kang Ning1* and Xin Liu 1* Abstract Background Ovarian cancer (OC) is one of the most common gynecological tumors with high morbidity and mor‑ tality. Altered serum N‑glycome has been observed in many diseases, while the association between serum protein N‑glycosylation and OC progression remains unclear, particularly for the onset of carcinogenesis from benign neo‑ plasms to cancer. Methods Herein, a mass spectrometry based high‑throughput technique was applied to characterize serum N‑glycome profile in individuals with healthy controls, benign neoplasms and different stages of OC. To elucidate the alterations of glycan features in OC progression, an orthogonal strategy with lectin‑based ELISA was performed. Results It was observed that the initiation and development of OC was associated with increased high‑mannosyla‑ tionand agalactosylation, concurrently with decreased total sialylation of serum, each of which gained at least moder‑ ately accurate merits. The most important individual N‑glycans in each glycan group was H7N2, H3N5 and H5N4S2F1, respectively. Notably, serum N‑glycome could be used to accurately discriminate OC patients from benign cohorts, with a comparable or even higher diagnostic score compared to CA125 and HE4 . Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis based discriminative model verified the diagnostic performance of serum N‑glycome for OC in two independent sets. Conclusions These findings demonstrated the great potential of serum N‑glycome for OC diagnosis and precancer‑ ous lesion prediction, paving a new way for OC screening and monitoring. Keywords Ovarian cancer, Serum, Orthogonal strategies, N‑glycome, Early diagnosis †Si Liu and Chang Tu contributed equally to this work. *Correspondence: Kang Ning [ningkang@hust.edu.cn](ningkang@hust.edu.cn)[ ](ningkang@hust.edu.cn)Xin Liu [xliu@mail.hust.edu.cn](xliu@mail.hust.edu.cn) 1 The Key Laboratory for Biomedical Photonics of MOE at Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics‑Hubei Bioinformatics & Molecular Imaging Key Laboratory, Systems Biology Theme, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China 2 Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China 3 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ()[. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public D

FAQs

What does the study measure in serum samples?

It characterizes serum N-glycome profiles using a mass spectrometry-based high-throughput approach, with lectin-based ELISA used to support glycan feature alterations.

Which serum N-glycan patterns are reported to change with ovarian cancer progression?

OC progression is associated with increased high-mannose and agalactosylation, alongside decreased total sialylation in serum.

How is the diagnostic value of serum N-glycome assessed?

The study uses discriminative models to distinguish ovarian cancer patients from benign cohorts and verifies diagnostic performance in two independent sets, comparing or relating it to CA125 and HE4.

Sep 21, 2026

Uploaded by Logic