Glycans Related to the CA19-9 Antigen Are Elevated in Distinct Subsets of Pancreatic Cancers and Improve Diagnostic Accuracy over CA19-9

Overview

Journal Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol

Specialty Gastroenterology

Date 2016 Mar 22

PMID 26998508

Citations 25

Authors

Huiyuan Tang

Katie Partyka

Peter Hsueh

Jessica Y Sinha

Doron Kletter

Herbert Zeh

Ying Huang

Randall E Brand

Brian B Haab

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background And Aims: The CA19-9 antigen is the current best biomarker for pancreatic cancer, but it is not elevated in about 25% of pancreatic cancer patients at a cutoff that gives a 25% false-positive rate. We hypothesized that antigens related to the CA19-9 antigen, which is a glycan called sialyl-Lewis A (sLeA), are elevated in distinct subsets of pancreatic cancers.

Methods: We profiled the levels of multiple glycans and mucin glycoforms in plasma from 200 subjects with either pancreatic cancer or benign pancreatic disease, and we validated selected findings in additional cohorts of 116 and 100 subjects, the latter run blinded and including cancers that exclusively were early-stage.

Results: We found significant elevations in two glycans: an isomer of sLeA called sialyl-Lewis X, present both in sulfated and non-sulfated forms; and the sialylated form of a marker for pluripotent stem cells, type 1 N-acetyl-lactosamine. The glycans performed as well as sLeA as individual markers and were elevated in distinct groups of patients, resulting in a 3-marker panel that significantly improved upon any individual biomarker. The panel gave 85% sensitivity and 90% specificity in the combined discovery and validation cohorts, relative to 54% sensitivity and 86% specificity for sLeA; and it gave 80% sensitivity and 84% specificity in the independent test cohort, as opposed to 66% sensitivity and 72% specificity for sLeA.

Conclusions: Glycans related to sLeA are elevated in distinct subsets of pancreatic cancers and yield improved diagnostic accuracy over CA19-9.

Citing Articles

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MUC1 and glycan probing of CA19-9 captured biomarkers from cyst fluids and serum provides enhanced recognition of ovarian cancer.

Ruma S, Vinod R, Jain S, Huhtinen K, Hynninen J, Leivo J Sci Rep. 2025; 15(1):3171.

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Targeting protein modification: a new direction for immunotherapy of pancreatic cancer.

Ge X, Zhang K, Zhu J, Chen Y, Wang Z, Wang P Int J Biol Sci. 2025; 21(1):63-74.

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A rigorous multi-laboratory study of known PDAC biomarkers identifies increased sensitivity and specificity over CA19-9 alone.

Haab B, Qian L, Staal B, Jain M, Fahrmann J, Worthington C Cancer Lett. 2024; 604:217245.

PMID: 39276915 PMC: 11808537. DOI: 10.1016/j.canlet.2024.217245.

Multiplexed Glycan Immunofluorescence Identification of Pancreatic Cancer Cell Subpopulations in Both Tumor and Blood Samples.

Binkowski B, Klamer Z, Gao C, Staal B, Repesh A, Tran H bioRxiv. 2024; .

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