i3S researcher joins international reference book on glycobiology

Celso A. Reis, researcher at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health, University of Porto (i3S), is one of the authors of the fourth edition of the “Essentials of Glycobiology”, a reference book in the field of glycobiology by the renowned publisher American science Cold Spring Harbor.

The researcher, who is leader of the group “Glycobiology in Cancer”, is co-author, together with three North American scientists and one Japanese, of chapter 47 of this work, entitled “Glycosylation Changes in Cancer”. Glycobiology, explains Celso A. Reis, “is the study of the structure, biosynthesis, biological function of saccharides (sugar chains or glycans) that are widely distributed in nature in all forms of life. It is also of great relevance to many areas of basic research, biomedicine, medicine, and biotechnology”.

It is known that aberrant glycosylation is a common feature of cancer cells and that certain glycans are well-known markers of tumor progression. Given this, Celso A. Reis explains that the new chapter “focuses on the biosynthetic pathways of glycans that are altered in tumor cells, on the correlations between altered glycosylation, diagnosis and clinical prognosis, as well as on the genetic basis of some of these changes”. Basically, summarizes the researcher, “this chapter presents and discusses the molecular basis and the functional role of glycans in the biology and pathogenesis of cancer”.
 
The book “Essentials for Glycobiology”, says Celso A. Reis, “is the most important book on glycobiology worldwide”, so the invitation to write a chapter on glycosylation together with recognized international experts in this area represents a recognition which reflects the projection of scientific works and innovative projects developed by the group “Glycobiology in Cancer”, of the i3S.
 
As in previous editions, this fourth edition of the book provides a basic overview of glycobiology, aimed at the advanced undergraduate or the undergraduate and graduate student in molecular and cellular biology, biomedicine and medicine. This edition, which features 60 chapters, covers a wide range of topics from biology and medicine to biochemistry, metabolism and materials science and features a selected group of world-renowned authors in their respective fields.