The Role of Glycans in Personalisation of Preventive Health Care
At SynHealth, one of our core goals is to support the transition from reactive healthcare toward earlier and more preventive approaches to healthy ageing. But what if prevention itself could become more individual — guided not only by general recommendations, but by molecular signals that reveal how our bodies respond to ageing, inflammation, lifestyle, and disease risk?
One promising path toward this future comes from glycans, complex sugar molecules that can provide valuable insight into our biological health long before symptoms appear.
A recent perspective article, “The role of glycans in personalization of preventive health care,” published in the Croatian Medical Journal by SynHealth Project Coordinator and Genos CEO, Prof. dr. sc. Gordan Lauc and Dragan Primorac, explores how glycans could help shape more personalised approaches to preventive healthcare.
What is the Role of Glycans in Preventive and Personalised Health Care
Unlike our DNA, which remains relatively stable throughout life, glycan patterns constantly respond to factors such as lifestyle, nutrition, stress, inflammation, and ageing. Because of this, glycans may help reveal early biological changes linked to chronic diseases years before symptoms appear.
The publication particularly highlights the IgG glycome — glycans attached to antibodies involved in regulating inflammation and immune responses. Changes in IgG glycosylation have already been associated with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and autoimmune disorders.
The article also explores how monitoring glycan changes could support more individualised preventive strategies, including tailored lifestyle interventions, dietary recommendations, and long-term health monitoring. Importantly, the publication references the growing potential of glycan-based tools such as GlycanAge, which is already being used internationally to monitor biological ageing and lifestyle-related health changes.
Why This Matters for SynHealth
By leveraging 15 years of pioneering Genos research on glycan biomarkers and past EU-funded initiatives, the project focuses on the valorisation of these discoveries for real-world application in Croatia and Slovenia. Through regional partnerships and technology transfer, SynHealth aims to translate research breakthroughs into clinical diagnostic tools for healthy longevity.
👉 Read the full open-access publication here:
The role of glycans in personalization of preventive health care
Publication Information
Lauc G, Primorac D. The role of glycans in personalization of preventive health care. Croatian Medical Journal. 2024.
The publication is supported by two EU-funded projects: the European Research Council Synergy Grant GlycanSwitch (Grant No. 101071386) and SynHealth (Grant No. 101159018), funded through the European Union’s Horizon Europe Programme.
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