Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41559085›Full record

ArticleNature communications2026

Large-scale serum N-glycomics tracks N-glycosylation dynamics in hepatocellular carcinoma progression and enables early diagnosis.

Bin Fu, Jierong Chen, Xuejiao Liu, Jiale Li, Xisong Feng, Jun Wang, Yueyue Li, Yuxiao Zhang, Jianhong Ma, Yunxia Wang and 3 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Bin FuDepartment of Chemistry and Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.ORCID 0000-0001-8567-2997
Jierong ChenDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangdong, China.
Xuejiao LiuInstitutes of Biomedical Sciences and NHC Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugates Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Jiale LiInstitutes of Biomedical Sciences and NHC Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugates Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Xisong FengInstitutes of Biomedical Sciences and NHC Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugates Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Jun WangInstitutes of Biomedical Sciences and NHC Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugates Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Yueyue LiInstitutes of Biomedical Sciences and NHC Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugates Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Yuxiao ZhangInstitutes of Biomedical Sciences and NHC Key Laboratory of Glycoconjugates Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Jianhong MaDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangdong, China.
Yunxia WangDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, Heyuan People's Hospital, Guangdong, China.
Bing GuDepartment of Clinical Laboratory, Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital (Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences), Southern Medical University, Guangdong, China. gubing@gdph.org.cn.ORCID 0000-0001-7764-3213
Ying ZhangDepartment of Chemistry and Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. ying@fudan.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0003-0509-1098
Haojie LuDepartment of Chemistry and Liver Cancer Institute, Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. luhaojie@fudan.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0003-3477-7662

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a leading cause of cancer mortality, yet the role of N-glycosylation in its pathogenesis remains unclear. We applied a multi-center, large-cohort N-glycomics strategy combining isomer-specific glycan profiling with multi-omics integration to characterize disease-associated glycan alterations and develop serum-based diagnostic models. Serum N-glycomes from 1,074 individuals across health, chronic hepatitis B, cirrhosis, and HCC were analyzed using a high-throughput pipeline of N-glycan release, derivatization, enrichment, and mass spectrometry. HCC progression was marked by pronounced increases in branching and fucosylation, elevated bisecting GlcNAc, and reduced galactosylation. Machine learning models built on these glycan signatures achieved high diagnostic accuracy (AUC 0.84-0.93), significantly outperforming alpha-fetoprotein, with performance validated in two external cohorts. Integrative glycoproteomic and transcriptomic analyses further illuminated the regulatory pathways driving these glycan shifts, highlighting N-glycosylation as a promising axis for mechanistic insight and early HCC detection.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, HepatocellularGlycomicsLiver NeoplasmsPolysaccharidesalpha-FetoproteinsBiomarkers, TumorDisease ProgressionEarly Detection of CancerGlycoproteinsGlycosylationHumansMalealpha-FetoproteinsBiomarkers, TumorGlycoproteinsPolysaccharides

Identifiers

PMID41559085
PMCPMC12923677

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.