Abstract: Objective Through lectin microarray, the differences of serum glycoprotein sugar chain spectrum between patients with stages I, II, III and IV lung cancer and healthy volunteers were analyzed, and the sugar chain structure markers related to the occurrence and development of lung cancer were found, so as to provide clinical basis for earlier discovery and identification of lung cancer. Methods Lectin microarray was performed to analyze the glycoprotein expression profiles of serum samples from 54 patients with different stages of lung cancer （9 patients at stages I and II, 24 patients at stage III and 21 patients at stage IV） and 48 healthy volunteers in the Second Hospital Affiliated to South China University from September 2017 to October 2018. Hierarchical cluster analysis （HCA） and ratio value analysis were used to analyze the glycoprotein glycochain profiles of serum from patients with lung cancer and healthy volunteers. The results of lectin microarray were verified by lectin imprinting technique reversely. The ROC curve was used to preliminarily evaluate the potential value to apply the screened sugar chain structure identified by the differential lectin in the early diagnosis of lung cancer. Results The relative abundance of β-Gal and Galβ-1, 4GlcNAc sugar chain structures identified by RCA120 in all lung cancer patients was significantly lower than that in healthy volunteers. ROC curve showed that RCA120 could distinguishpatients with early lung cancer from healthy volunteersat AUC = 0.802, P = 0.004, which indicated that in serum β-Gal and Galβ-1, 4GlcNAc sugar chain structuresrecognized the lectin RCA120 could effectively distinguish patients with early lung cancer from healthy volunteers.Conclusion β-Gal and Galβ-1, 4GlcNAc sugar chain structures recognized by lectin RCA120 may contribute to the early diagnosis of lung cancer.

Key words: lung cancer, sugar chain structure, serum, lectin microarray, sugar chain markers