Glycomics-guided glycoproteomics facilitates comprehensive profiling of the glycoproteome in complex tumor microenvironments

Glycosylation is a common and structurally diverse protein modification that impacts a wide range of tumorigenic processes. Mass spectrometry-driven glycomics and glycoproteomics have emerged as powerful approaches to analyze liberated glycans and intact glycopeptides, respectively, offering a deeper understanding of the heterogeneous glycoproteome in the tumor microenvironment (TME). This protocol details the glycomics-guided glycoproteomics method, an integrated omics technology, which firstly employs porous graphitized carbon-LC-MS/MS-based glycomics to elucidate the glycan structures and their quantitative distribution in the glycome of tumor tissues, cell populations, or bodily fluids being investigated. This allows for a comparative glycomics analysis to identify altered glycosylation across patient groups, disease stages, or conditions, and, importantly, serves to enhance the downstream glycoproteomics analysis of the same sample(s) by creating a library of known glycan structures, thus reducing the data search time and the glycoprotein misidentification rate. Focusing on N-glycoproteome profiling, the sample preparation steps for the glycomics-guided glycoproteomics method are detailed in this protocol, and key aspects of the data collection and analysis are discussed. The glycomics-guided glycoproteomics method provides quantitative information on the glycoproteins present in the TME and their glycosylation sites, site occupancy, and site-specific glycan structures. Representative results are presented from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumor tissues from colorectal cancer patients, demonstrating that the method is sensitive and compatible with tissue sections commonly found in biobanks. Glycomics-guided glycoproteomics, therefore, offers a comprehensive view into the heterogeneity and dynamics of the glycoproteome in complex TMEs, generating robust biochemical data required to better understand the glycobiology of cancers.