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Glycoproteins are an underexploited drug target for cancer therapeutics. In this work, we integrated computational methods in network pharmacology and in silico docking approaches to identify phytochemical compounds that could potentially interact with several cancer-associated glycoproteins. We first created a database of phytochemicals from selected plant species, Manilkara zapota (sapodilla/chico), Mangifera indica (mango), Annona muricata (soursop/guyabano), Artocarpus heterophyllus (jackfruit/langka), Lansium domesticum (langsat/lanzones), and Antidesma bunius (bignay), and performed pharmacokinetic analysis to determine their drug-likeness properties. We then constructed a phytochemical-glycoprotein interaction network and characterized the degree of interactions between the phytochemical compounds and with cancer-associated glycoproteins and other glycosylation-related proteins. We found a high degree of interactions from α-pinene ( Mangifera indica ), cyanomaclurin ( Artocarpus heterophyllus ), genistein ( Annona muricata ), kaempferol ( Annona muricata and Antidesma bunius ), norartocarpetin ( Artocarpus heterophyllus ), quercetin ( Annona muricata , Antidesma bunius , Manilkara zapota , Mangifera indica ), rutin ( Annona muricata , Antidesma bunius , Lansium domesticum ), and ellagic acid ( Antidesma bunius and Mangifera indica ). Subsequent docking analysis confirmed that these compounds could potentially bind to EGFR, AKT1, KDR, MMP2, MMP9, ERBB2, IGF1R, MTOR, and HRAS proteins, which are known cancer biomarkers. In vitro cytotoxicity assays of the plant extracts showed that the n -hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol leaf extracts from A. muricata , L. domesticum and M. indica gave the highest growth inhibitory activity against A549 lung cancer cells. These may help further explain the reported cytotoxic activities of select compounds from these plant species., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death and non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) accounting for majority of lung cancers. Thus, it is important to find potential biomarkers, such as glycans and glycoproteins, which can be used as diagnostic tools against NSCLC. Here, the N-glycome, proteome, and N-glycosylation distribution maps of tumor and peritumoral tissues of Filipino lung cancer patients (n = 5) were characterized. We present several case studies with varying stages of cancer development (I-III), mutation status ( EGFR, ALK ), and biomarker expression based on a three-gene panel ( CD133 , KRT19 , and MUC1 ). Although the profiles of each patient were unique, specific trends arose that correlated with the role of aberrant glycosylation in cancer progression. Specifically, we observed a general increase in the relative abundance of high-mannose and sialofucosylated N-glycans in tumor samples. Analysis of the glycan distribution per glycosite revealed that these sialofucosylated N-glycans were specifically attached to glycoproteins involved in key cellular processes, including metabolism, cell adhesion, and regulatory pathways. Protein expression profiles showed significant enrichment of dysregulated proteins involved in metabolism, adhesion, cell-ECM interactions, and N-linked glycosylation, supporting the protein glycosylation results. The present case series study provides the first demonstration of a multi-platform mass-spectrometric analysis specifically for Filipino lung cancer patients.

Aberrant glycosylation has been extensively reported in cancer, with fundamental changes in the glycosylation patterns of cell-surface and secreted proteins largely occurring during cancer progression. As such, serum glycan and glycopeptide biomarkers have been discovered using mass spectrometry and proposed for cancer detection. Here, we report for the first time potential serum N -glycan and glycopeptide biomarkers for Philippine lung cancer patients. The N -glycan and glycoprotein profiles of a cohort ( n = 26 patients, n = 22 age- and gender-matched) of lung cancer patients were analyzed and compared to identify potential N -glycan and glycopeptide serum biomarkers using nano-QToF-MS/MS and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry dynamic multiple monitoring methods, respectively. Statistical analyses identified differential N -glycan and glycopeptide abundances. The N -glycans were mostly sialylated and sialofucosylated branched structures. The glycopeptides involved proteins in complement and coagulation cascades ( p adj = 6.418 × 10 -4 ), innate immunity ( p adj = 6.094 × 10 -3 ), acute inflammatory response ( p adj = 6.404 × 10 -5 ), defense response ( p adj = 2.082 × 10 -4 ), complement activation pathways ( p adj = 1.895 × 10 -2 ), and immunoglobulin-mediated immune response pathways ( p adj = 4.818 × 10 -2 ). Biomarker models were constructed using serum N -glycans [area under the curve (AUC) = 0.775; 95% CI: 0.617-0.931] and glycopeptides (AUC = 0.959; 95% CI: 0.85-1.0), with glycopeptides having higher accuracies than N -glycans. The results suggest that in the Philippine lung cancer patient sera, specific N -glycans and site-specific glycans are differentially expressed between cases and controls. This report represents the first serum glycan and glycopeptide biomarkers of Philippine lung cancer patients, further demonstrating the utility of mass spectrometry-based glycomic and glycoproteomic methods., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Cancer progression is linked to aberrant protein glycosylation due to the overexpression of several glycosylation enzymes. These enzymes are underexploited as potential anticancer drug targets and the development of rapid-screening methods and identification of glycosylation inhibitors are highly sought. An integrated bioinformatics and mass spectrometry-based glycomics-driven glycoproteomics analysis pipeline was performed to identify an N-glycan inhibitor against lung cancer cells. Combined network pharmacology and in silico screening approaches were used to identify a potential inhibitor, pictilisib, against several glycosylation-related proteins, such as Alpha1-6FucT, GlcNAcT-V, and Alpha2,6-ST-I. A glycomics assay of lung cancer cells treated with pictilisib showed a significant reduction in the fucosylation and sialylation of N-glycans, with an increase in high mannose-type glycans. Proteomics analysis and in vitro assays also showed significant upregulation of the proteins involved in apoptosis and cell adhesion, and the downregulation of proteins involved in cell cycle regulation, mRNA processing, and protein translation. Site-specific glycoproteomics analysis further showed that glycoproteins with reduced fucosylation and sialylation were involved in apoptosis, cell adhesion, DNA damage repair, and chemical response processes. To determine how the alterations in N-glycosylation impact glycoprotein dynamics, modeling of changes in glycan interactions of the ITGA5-ITGB1 (Integrin alpha 5-Integrin beta-1) complex revealed specific glycosites at the interface of these proteins that, when highly fucosylated and sialylated, such as in untreated A549 cells, form greater hydrogen bonding interactions compared to the high mannose-types in pictilisib-treated A549 cells. This study highlights the use of mass spectrometry to identify a potential glycosylation inhibitor and assessment of its impact on cell surface glycoprotein abundance and protein-protein interaction.

A strategy in the discovery of anti-tuberculosis (anti-TB) drug involves targeting the enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis' (Mtb) cell wall. One of these enzymes is Galactofuranosyltransferase 2 (GlfT2) that catalyzes the elongation of the galactan chain of Mtb cell wall. Studies targeting GlfT2 have so far produced compounds showing minimal inhibitory activity. With the current challenge of designing potential GlfT2 inhibitors with high inhibition activity, computational methods such as molecular docking, receptor-ligand mapping, molecular dynamics, and Three-Dimensional-Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (3D-QSAR) were utilized to deduce the interactions of the reported compounds with the target enzyme and enabling the design of more potent GlfT2 inhibitors. Molecular docking studies showed that the synthesized compounds have binding energy values between -3.00 to -6.00 kcal mol -1 . Two compounds, #27 and #31, have registered binding energy values of -8.32 ± 0.01, and -8.08 ± 0.01 kcal mol -1 , respectively. These compounds were synthesized as UDP-Galactopyranose mutase (UGM) inhibitors and could possibly inhibit GlfT2. Interestingly, the analogs of the known disaccharide substrate, compounds #1-4, have binding energy range of -10.00 to -19.00 kcal mol -1 . The synthesized and newly designed compounds were subjected to 3D-QSAR to further design compounds with effective interaction within the active site. Results showed improved binding energy from -6.00 to -8.00 kcal mol -1 . A significant increase on the binding affinity was observed when modifying the aglycon part instead of the sugar moiety. Furthermore, these top hit compounds were subjected to in silico ADMETox evaluation. Compounds #31, #70, #71, #72, and #73 were found to pass the ADME evaluation and throughout the screening, only compound #31 passed the predicted toxicity evaluation. This work could pave the way in the design and synthesis of GlfT2 inhibitors through computer-aided drug design and can be used as an initial approach in identifying potential novel GlfT2 inhibitors with promising activity and low toxicity.

Antibody-mediated cell depletion therapy has proven to provide significant clinical benefit in treatment of lymphomas and leukemias, driving the development of improved therapies with novel mechanisms of cell killing. A current clinical target for B-cell lymphoma is CD22, a B-cell-specific member of the sialic acid binding Ig-like lectin (siglec) family that recognizes alpha2-6-linked sialylated glycans as ligands. Here, we describe a novel approach for targeting B lymphoma cells with doxorubicin-loaded liposomal nanoparticles displaying high-affinity glycan ligands of CD22. The targeted liposomes are actively bound and endocytosed by CD22 on B cells, and significantly extend life in a xenograft model of human B-cell lymphoma. Moreover, they bind and kill malignant B cells from peripheral blood samples obtained from patients with hairy cell leukemia, marginal zone lymphoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The results demonstrate the potential for using a carbohydrate recognition-based approach for efficiently targeting B cells in vivo that can offer improved treatment options for patients with B-cell malignancies.

The major structural component of the cell wall in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, infection by which causes tuberculosis, is the mycolyl-arabinogalactan (mAG) complex. This large glycoconjugates has at its core a backbone of approximately 30 D-galactofuranose (Gal(f)) residues that are linked to peptidoglycan by way of a linker disaccharide containing L-rhamnose and 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose. Recent studies have supported a model of galactan biosynthesis in which the entire structure is assembled by the action of two bifunctional galactofuranosyltransferases. These biochemical investigations were made possible, in part, by access to a panel of oligosaccharide fragments of the mAG complex (1-12), the synthesis of which we describe here. An early key finding in this study was that the iodine-promoted cyclization of galactose diethyl dithioacetal (19) in the presence of an alcohol solvent led to the formation Gal(f) glycosides contaminated with no pyranoside isomer, thus allowing the efficient preparation of furanoside derivatives of this monosaccharide. The synthesis of disaccharide targets 1, 2, 11 and 12 proceeded without difficulty through the use of thioglycoside donors and octyl glycoside acceptors, both carrying benzoyl protection. In the synthesis of the tri- and tetrasaccharides 3-6, we explored routes in which the molecule was assembled from the reducing to nonreducing end, and the reverse. The latter approach was found to be preferable for the preparation of 6, and in the case of 3 and 4, this strategy allowed the development of efficient one-pot methods for their synthesis. We have also carried out the first synthesis of three mAG fragments (8-10) consisting of the linker disaccharide further elaborated with one, two or three Gal(f) residues. A key step in the synthesis of these target compounds was the coupling of a protected linker disaccharide derivative (58) with a mono-, di-, or trigalactofuranosyl thioglycoside (17, 54, or 53, respectively).

Two galactosyl transferases can apparently account for the full biosynthesis of the cell wall galactan of mycobacteria. Evidence is presented based on enzymatic incubations with purified natural and synthetic galactofuranose (Galf) acceptors that the recombinant galactofuranosyl transferase, GlfT1, from Mycobacterium smegmatis, the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rv3782 ortholog known to be involved in the initial steps of galactan formation, harbors dual beta-(1-->4) and beta-(1-->5) Galf transferase activities and that the product of the enzyme, decaprenyl-P-P-GlcNAc-Rha-Galf-Galf, serves as a direct substrate for full polymerization catalyzed by another bifunctional Galf transferase, GlfT2, the Rv3808c enzyme.