Journal of Glycobiology
Open Access

Abstract

Glycobiology-Targeted Therapies in Hematologic Oncology: Ushering in a New Era of Cancer Diagnostics and Therapeutics

Ashraf Abdullah Saad

Despite that immunotherapy revolutionized cancer treatment, a considerable proportion of patients do not respond. While scientists continued to make perpetuating efforts in order to associate, glycans (carbohydrates) have come under scrutiny as the next frontier in pharmaceutical research. Immunologically speaking, tumor specific glycan signatures that mediate tumor cell recognition by the immune system offer novel immunotherapy targets for developing both specific and powerful therapeutic strategies against cancer. Notwithstanding that we are lately witnessing breakthrough discoveries in glycan-targeting therapies for solid tumors being reported in a substantial number of studies, the utilization of these therapies in liquid tumors (i.e., leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma) continued to lag far behind. On the other hand, humoral and cellular immunotherapeutic agents were quite successful in selected hematologic malignancies, albeit patients with Relapsed/Refractory (R/R) disease and those crippled by financial and/or drug toxicities remain extremely disadvantaged. Between the currently employed immunotherapeutic modalities and the Overall Survival (OS) rate, the full potential of glyco-oncology creates a divide that must be continuously researched and bridged. Therefore, this review aims to contextualize the glycosylation landscape of liquid tumors within the field of hematologic oncology in order to establish ‘Glycobiology in Hematology’ as a new emerging paradigm in cancer research and therapeutics.

Published Date: 2024-11-05; Received Date: 2024-09-26