Glycans and cancer
A growing body of evidence supports crucial roles for glycans at various pathophysiological steps of tumour progression. Glycans regulate tumour proliferation, invasion, haematogenous metastasis and angiogenesis, and increased understanding of these roles sets the stage for developing pharmaceutical agents that target these molecules. Such novel agents might be used alone or in combination with operative and/or chemoradiation strategies for treating cancer.
References
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Dube DH, Bertozzi CR. Glycans in cancer and inflammation - potential for therapeutics and diagnostics. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2005 Jun;4(6):477-88. PMID: #15931257#
Kleene R, Schachner M. Glycans and neural cell interactions. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2004 Mar;5(3):195-208. PMID: #14976519#