LAUSR

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent malignancies in women. Lack of early symptoms and reasonable diagnostic methods resulted in the late detection of this disease. Usually, breast cancer patients in early stages without distant metastasis can be cured in about 70–80% of cases, with an overall 5-year survival rate of over 80%, while 5-year survival rate drops significantly to 25% for those with distant metastasis [1,2]. Mammography-based screening is the main modality of screening used for breast cancer. However, false-positive feedback and over-diagnosis disadvantaged the application of radiation mammography-based screening [3]. Therefore, identifying novel breast cancer diagnostics is of utmost importance for initial diagnosis and disease progressing monitor on breast cancer. Glycosylation, which is the most common posttranslational modification, is saccharides that are covalently linked to lipid, protein, or other glycans [4]. Glycan alterations which often occur in malignant cells presented as following forms: loss or excessive expression of certain glycan structures, increased expression of incomplete or truncated glycans, and the appearance of uncommon glycans [5,6]. Glycan alterations can promote tumorigenesis and progression, suggesting their potential role as biomarkers for diagnosing tumor progression [5–7]. Extensive research has been being carried out to discover glycan-based biomarkers. The altered glycan structures are also observed in breast cancer, and their potential diagnostic capabilities are worthy to be discussed. In this review, we focus on the diagnostic capabilities of glycans for breast cancer.