The prevalence of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is high in South and Southeast Asia regions. Most OSCC patients are detected at advanced stages low 5-year survival rates. Aberrant expression of glycosylated proteins was found to be associated with malignant transformation and cancer progression. Hence, identification of cancer-associated glycoproteins could be used as potential biomarkers that are beneficial for diagnosis or clinical management of patients. This study aims to identify the differentially expressed glycoproteins using lectin-based glycoproteomics approaches. Serum samples of 40 patients with OSCC, 10 patients with oral potentially malignant disorder (OPMD), and 10 healthy individuals as control group were subjected to two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) coupled with lectin Concanavalin A and Jacalin that specifically bind to N- and O-glycosylated proteins, respectively. Five differentially expressed N- and O-glycoproteins with various potential glycosylation sites were identified, namely N-glycosylated α1-antitrypsin (AAT), α2-HS-glycoprotein (AHSG), apolipoprotein A-I (APOA1), and haptoglobin (HP); as well as O-glycosylated AHSG and clusterin (CLU). Among them, AAT and APOA1 were further validated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (n = 120). It was found that AAT and APOA1 are significantly upregulated in OSCC and these glycoproteins are independent risk factors of OSCC. The clinical utility of AAT and APOA1 as potential biomarkers of OSCC is needed for further evaluation.

在南亚和东南亚地区，口腔鳞状细胞癌 (OSCC) 的患病率很高。大多数 OSCC 患者在晚期阶段被检测到，5 年生存率较低。发现糖基化蛋白的异常表达与恶性转化和癌症进展有关。因此，癌症相关糖蛋白的鉴定可用作有利于患者诊断或临床管理的潜在生物标志物。本研究旨在使用基于凝集素的糖蛋白组学方法鉴定差异表达的糖蛋白。40 例 OSCC 患者、10 例口腔潜在恶性疾病 (OPMD) 患者的血清样本，分别是N - 和O -糖基化蛋白质。鉴定了五种具有不同潜在糖基化位点的差异表达的N-和O-糖蛋白，即N-糖基化α1-抗胰蛋白酶（AAT）、α2-HS-糖蛋白（AHSG）、载脂蛋白AI（APOA1）和触珠蛋白（HP）；以及O-糖基化 AHSG 和凝聚素 (CLU)。其中，AAT 和 APOA1 使用酶联免疫吸附试验 (ELISA) 进一步验证 ( n  = 120)。发现AAT和APOA1在OSCC中显着上调，这些糖蛋白是OSCC的独立危险因素。需要进一步评估 AAT 和 APOA1 作为 OSCC 潜在生物标志物的临床效用。