Esophageal cancer (EC), gastric cancer (GC), and colorectal cancer (CRC) are three major digestive tract tumors with higher morbidity and mortality due to significant molecular heterogeneity. Altered IgG glycosylation has been observed in inflammatory activities and disease progression, and the IgG glycome profile could be used for disease stratification. However, IgG N-glycome profiles in these three cancers have not been systematically investigated. Herein, subclass-specific IgG glycosylation in CRC, GC, and EC was comprehensively characterized by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. It was found that IgG1 sialylation was decreased in all three cancers, and the alterations in CRC and EC may be subclass-specific. IgG4 mono-galactosylation was increased in all three cancers, which was a subclass-specific change in all of them. Additionally, glycopeptides of IgG1-H5N5, IgG2-H4N3F1, and IgG4-H4N4F1 could distinguish all three cancer groups from controls with fair diagnostic performance. Furthermore, bioinformatics verified the differential expression of relevant glycosyltransferase genes in cancer progression. Significantly, those three gastrointestinal cancers could be distinguished from each other using subclass-specific IgG glycans. These findings demonstrated the spatial and temporal diversity of IgG N-glycome among digestive cancers, increasing our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of EC, GC, and CRC pathogenesis.
Keywords: IgG glycopeptide; colorectal cancer; early detection; esophageal cancer; gastric cancer.