PhD defence
Glycoproteomics assays for prostate cancer biomarker discovery
- W. Wang
- Date
- Tuesday 20 February 2024
- Time
- Location
-
Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden
Supervisor(s)
- Prof.dr. M. Wuhrer
- dr. G. Lageveen-Kammeijer
- dr. N. de Haan
Summary
Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most prevalent cancer among men worldwide when assessing age-standardized incidence rates. The primary method for early PCa diagnosis involves measuring the serum concentration of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), with elevated levels (> 3 ng/mL in the Netherlands; > 4 ng/mL in the US) indicating the potential presence of PCa. However, the conventional PSA test exhibits a low specificity. Thus, clinical challenges persist, including the differentiation between PCa and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and distinguishing indolent PCa from aggressive forms. This underscores the need for a more specific biomarker for early PCa detection and stratification. Previous studies have reported altered glycosylation features in two prostate-secreted glycoproteins, PSA and prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP) in PCa patients, e.g. variation in α-2,3 sialylation, fucosylation and the level of LacdiNAc . The aim of the research described in this thesis was to identify PCa biomarkers for early detection and to improve patient stratification, focusing specifically on the glycomic profiles of PSA and PAP. In addition, as PSA plays an important role with regard to fertility, its glycosylation -in relation to male infertility- was also touched upon in this thesis. For this purpose, mass spectrometry (MS) based glycoproteomic methods were established to map the glycoprofiles of PSA and PAP derived from various biofluids.
PhD dissertations
Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.
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General information
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