Investigations on Aberrant Glycosylation of Glycosphingolipids in Colorectal Cancer Tissues Using Liquid Chromatography and Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Time-of-

Cancer is a leading cause of death and alterations of gly-cosylation are characteristic features of malignant cells. Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers and its exact causes and biology are not yet well understood. Here, we compared glycosylation profiles of colorectal tu-mor tissues and corresponding control tissues of 13 colo-rectal cancer patients to contribute to the understanding of this cancer. Using MALDI-TOF(/TOF)-MS and 2-dimen-sional LC-MS/MS we characterized enzymatically released and 2-aminobenzoic acid labeled glycans from glycosphin-golipids. Multivariate data analysis revealed significant dif-ferences between tumor and corresponding control tis-sues. Main discriminators were obtained, which represent the overall alteration in glycosylation of glycosphingolipids during colorectal cancer progression, and thesewere foun