Identification and validation of IgG N-glycosylation biomarkers of esophageal carcinoma

INTRODUCTION: Altered Immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation is associated with aging, inflammation, and diseases status, while its effect on esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unknown. As far as we know, this is the first study to explore and validate the association of IgG N-glycosylation and the carcinogenesis progression of ESCC, providing innovative biomarkers for the predictive identification and targeted prevention of ESCC. METHODS: In total, 496 individuals of ESCC (n=114), precancerosis (n=187) and controls (n=195) from the discovery population (n=348) and validation population (n=148) were recruited in the study. IgG N-glycosylation profile was analyzed and an ESCC-related glycan score was composed by a stepwise ordinal logistic model in the discovery population. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve with the bootstrapping procedure was used to assess the performance of the glycan score. RESULTS: In the discovery population, the adjusted OR of GP20 (digalactosylated monosialylated biantennary with core and antennary fucose), IGP33 (the ratio of all fucosylated monosyalilated and disialylated structures), IGP44 (the proportion of high mannose glycan structures in total neutral IgG glycans), IGP58 (the percentage of all fucosylated structures in total neutral IgG glycans), IGP75 (the incidence of bisecting GlcNAc in all fucosylated digalactosylated structures in total neutral IgG glycans), and the glycan score are 4.03 (95% CI: 3.03-5.36, P<0.001), 0.69 (95% CI: 0.55-0.87, P<0.001), 0.56 (95% CI: 0.45-0.69, P<0.001), 0.52 (95% CI: 0.41-0.65, P<0.001), 7.17 (95% CI: 4.77-10.79, P<0.001), and 2.86 (95% CI: 2.33-3.53, P<0.001), respectively. Individuals in the highest tertile of the glycan score own an increased risk (OR: 11.41), compared with those in the lowest. The average multi-class AUC are 0.822 (95% CI: 0.786-0.849). Findings are verified in the validation population, with an average AUC of 0.807 (95% CI: 0.758-0.864). DISCUSSION: Our study demonstrated that IgG N-glycans and the proposed glycan score appear to be promising predictive markers for ESCC, contributing to the early prevention of esophageal cancer. From the perspective of biological mechanism, IgG fucosylation and mannosylation might involve in the carcinogenesis progression of ESCC, and provide potential therapeutic targets for personalized interventions of cancer progression.