ArticleBiomolecules2012
Sialyl-tn in cancer: (how) did we miss the target?
Article in Biomolecules, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 106 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
106 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 172 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- From Glycocode to Precision Oncology: Therapeutic Strategies Targeting Aberrant O-GalNAc Glycosylation in Cancer.Chemical reviews · 2026Review
- Cancer-associated alterations in O-GalNAc glycosylation.Glycobiology · 2026Review
- The glycobiology of prostate cancer: an update.Oncogene · 2026Review
- Comprehensive Profiling Reveals Sialyl-Tn Upregulation and Prognostic Value in Prostate Cancer.Pathology international · 2026Article
- Comprehensive profiling reveals Sialyl-Tn upregulation and prognostic value in prostate cancer.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Review
- Immunomodulation by glycosylation: bridging glycobiology to adaptive immunity and therapeutic innovation.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Sialylation and fucosylation of mucin-type glycopeptides using recombinant glycosyltransferases.Methods in enzymology · 2026Article
- Structure-guided phage display discovery of antibodies for (S)Tn-glycans in protein context.Nature chemical biology · 2026Article
- Sialyl-Tn expression correlates with reduced c-Myc and immune modulation in triple negative breast cancer.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Role of MUC1 in Gastric Cancer Development.Cancers · 2025Review
- Amniotic fluid glycoproteins as potential ligands for macrophage galactose-type C-type lectin and their possible implications for immunoregulation during pregnancy.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Phage Display Reveals VLRB-Mediated Recognition of Minimal Tumor Glycan Antigen Sialyl-Tn.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Article
- Current and evolving practices of carbohydrate antigens in gastric cancer: a narrative review.Translational cancer research · 2025Review
- The Role of Glycans in Human Immunity-A Sweet Code.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- ST6GALNAC1-mediated sialylation in uterine endometrial epithelium facilitates the epithelium-embryo attachment.Journal of advanced research · 2025Article
- Siglec-targeted liposomes to identify sialoglycans present on fungal pathogens.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2025Article
- Advancing Non-Invasive Colorectal Cancer Screening: Exploring the Potential of Monoclonal Antibody L2A5.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Article
46 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sialyl-Tn antigen (STn) is a short O-glycan containing a sialic acid residue a2,6-linked to GalNAca-O-Ser/Thr. The biosynthesis of STn is mediated by a specific sialyltransferase termed ST6GalNAc I, which competes with O-glycans elongating glycosyltransferases and prevents cancer cells from exhibiting longer O-glycans. While weakly expressed by fetal and normal adult tissues, STn is expressed by more than 80% of human carcinomas and in all cases, STn detection is associated with adverse outcome and decreased overall survival for the patients. Because of its pan-carcinoma expression associated with an adverse outcome, an anti-cancer vaccine, named Theratope, has been designed towards the STn epitope. In spite of the great enthusiasm around this immunotherapy, Theratope failed on Phase III clinical trial. However, in lieu of missing this target, one should consider to revise the Theratope design and the actual facts. In this review, we highlight the many lessons that can be learned from this failure from the immunological standpoint, as well as from the drug design and formulation and patient selection. Moreover, an irrefutable knowledge is arising from novel immunotherapies targeting other carbohydrate antigens and STn carrier proteins, such as MUC1, that will warrantee the future development of more successful anti-STn immunotherapy strategies.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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 OpenQuestion graph.