Globo Series Antigen

Numerous surface carbohydrates are expressed in malignant tumor cells. For example, the carbohydrate antigen Globo H was first isolated as a ceramide-linked Glycolipid and identified in 1984 from breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Previous studies have also shown that Globo H and stage-specific embryonic antigen 3 (SSEA-3, also called Gb5) were observed on breast cancer cells and breast cancer stem cells. In addition, SSEA-4 (stage-specific embryonic antigen-4) has been commonly used as a cell surface marker for pluripotent human embryonic stem cells and has been used to isolate mesenchymal stem cells and enrich neural progenitor cells. Thus, it is of great interest to identify glycan markers associated with and/or predictive of cancers, and develop human monoclonal antibodies against the markers for use in diagnosing and treating a broad spectrum of cancers.