Figure 4.

STn and SLe^A clinical applications (non-invasive serological methods and molecular-assisted decisions using cancer tissues) in gastroesophageal and colorectal cancers. A) Non-invasive serological methods. The STn antigen is detected in the serum using the CA72-4 test; whereas the SLe^A antigen can be detected by the CA19-9 test. These antigens are used for prognostication, cancer screening and response to therapy monitoring. However, both lack the sensitivity and specificity for early diagnosis; B) Molecular-assisted oncology using cancer tissues. The right side of B panel highlights some of the most explored monoclonal antibodies detecting STn (orange) and SLe^A (blue), while the left side summarizes known clinical associations.