Changes in protein glycosylation are clinically used as biomarkers. In the present study, we employed a twin cohort to investigate the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to glycan modifications of glycoproteins. Mac-2 binding protein (Mac-2 bp), haptoglobin (Hp), and their glycosylated forms are liver fibrosis and cancer biomarkers. Sera from 107 twin pairs without clinical information were used as a training cohort for the Mac-2 bp and Mac-2 bp glycosylation isomer (M2BPGi) assay. As a validation cohort, 22 twin pairs were enrolled in the study. For each twin pair, one twin was diagnosed with liver or pancreatic disease. For the training cohort, the correlation ratios of serum Mac-2 bp and M2BPGi levels in twin sera with random sequences were 0.30 and 0.018, respectively. The correlation ratios between twin pairs in the validation cohort for serum Mac-2 bp and M2BPGi levels were 0.75 and 0.35, respectively. In contrast, correlation ratios of serum Hp and fucosylated haptoglobin (Fuc-Hp) levels between twin sera with liver and pancreatic disease were 0.49 and 0.16, respectively. Although serum protein levels of glycoproteins are susceptible to genetic factors, characteristic glycan changes of these glycoproteins are more susceptible to environmental factors, including liver and pancreatic disease.

Graphical abstract

中文翻译：

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双胞胎研究表明聚糖变化比它们的载体糖蛋白更容易受到环境因素的影响

蛋白质糖基化的变化在临床上用作生物标志物。在本研究中，我们采用双胞胎队列来研究遗传和环境因素对糖蛋白聚糖修饰的贡献。Mac-2 结合蛋白 (Mac-2 bp)、触珠蛋白 (Hp) 及其糖基化形式是肝纤维化和癌症的生物标志物。来自 107 对没有临床信息的双胞胎的血清被用作 Mac-2 bp 和 Mac-2 bp 糖基化异构体 (M2BPGi) 测定的训练队列。作为验证队列，22 对双胞胎被纳入研究。对于每对双胞胎，其中一个双胞胎被诊断出患有肝脏或胰腺疾病。对于训练队列，随机序列的双胞胎血清中血清 Mac-2 bp 和 M2BPGi 水平的相关比值分别为 0.30 和 0.018。验证队列中双胞胎对之间血清 Mac-2 bp 和 M2BPGi 水平的相关比率分别为 0.75 和 0.35。相比之下，双胞胎血清与肝脏和胰腺疾病的血清 Hp 和岩藻糖基化触珠蛋白 (Fuc-Hp) 水平的相关比分别为 0.49 和 0.16。尽管糖蛋白的血清蛋白水平易受遗传因素影响，但这些糖蛋白的特征性聚糖变化更易受环境因素影响，包括肝脏和胰腺疾病。

图形概要