Cancer is a deadly disease that encompasses numerous cellular modifications. Among them, alterations in glycosylation are a proven reliable hallmark of cancer, with most biomarkers used in the clinic detecting cancer-associated glycans. Despite their clear potential as therapy targets, glycans have been overlooked in drug discovery strategies. The complexity associated with the glycosylation process, and lack of specific methodologies to study it, have long hampered progress. However, recent advances in new methodologies, such as glycoengineering of cells and high-throughput screening (HTS), have opened new avenues of discovery. We envision that glycan-based targeting has the potential to start a new era of cancer therapy. In this article, we discuss the promise of cancer-associated glycosylation for the discovery of effective cancer drugs.

癌症是一种致命的疾病，涉及许多细胞修饰。其中，糖基化的改变是公认的可靠癌症标志，临床上大多数生物标志物都用于检测与癌症相关的聚糖。尽管聚糖具有明确的治疗目标潜力，但在药物发现策略中却忽略了聚糖。长期以来，与糖基化过程相关的复杂性以及缺乏研究该方法的特定方法论不足。但是，新方法的最新进展，例如细胞的糖工程和高通量筛选（HTS），开辟了新的发现途径。我们设想基于聚糖的靶向有可能开启新的癌症治疗时代。在本文中，我们讨论了与癌症相关的糖基化对发现有效癌症药物的希望。