Pan-cancer N-glycoproteomic atlas of patient-derived xenografts uncovers FAT2 as an actionable surface target.

ABSTRACT: Cell surface proteins offer significant cancer therapeutic potential attributable to their accessible membrane localization and central roles in cellular signaling, yet their promise remains largely untapped due to technical challenges inherent to profiling them. Here, we employ N-glycoproteomics to analyze 85 patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), constructing Glyco PDXplorer-an in vivo pan-cancer atlas of cancer-derived surface proteins. We develop a target discovery pipeline to prioritize proteins with favorable expression profiles for immunotherapeutic targeting and validate FAT2 as a squamous-cancer-enriched surface protein minimally detected in normal tissue. Functional studies reveal that FAT2 is essential for head and neck squamous cancer (HNSC) cell growth and adhesion through regulat

SUBMITTER: Govindarajan M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12923961 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature