Worldwide 40% of the population are diagnosed with cancer at some stage in their lives. Immunotherapy is a revolutionary cancer therapy, supporting our own immune system in clearing cancer cells. Developing a new therapy based on targeting sugar molecules in cancer could strengthen this immunotherapy. Therefore, the study of sugars in biology (glycobiology) is an emerging field of interest for biomolecular and biomedical research. However, there is still much unknown in complex sugar structures on the cell surface.
Glycobiology
Sugars on human cells regulate many biological processes, whereas aberrant expression of sugars is associated with diseases such as cancer. The expression of specific sugars on cancer cells enables the tumor to grow harder through their role in immune evasion, metastasis, proliferation, and resistance to current therapies. Preclinical model systems show that targeting these cancer-specific sugars potentially provide a new cancer therapy. Hence a better (fundamental) understanding of these sugars is important for developing new medicines. Preclinical mouse models for the selected cancer indications will be used to test the efficacy of new therapies targeting these complex sugars.
