Cell surface glycoconjugates

The important role saccharides play in biology, especially in recognition processes, led researchers to work on the development of multivalent so-called neo-glycoconjugates the numerous biological roles of cell surface oligosaccharides... 

Figure 24.4 Lectins coated on gold particles can be used to detect specific carbohydrate sequences in cell-surface glycoconjugates.

Spiegel, S., Wilchek, M., and Fishman, P.H. (1983) Fluorescent labeling of cell surface glycoconjugates with Lucifer Yellow CH. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 112, 872-877. 

Krivan HC, Clark GF, Smith DF, Wilkins TD Cell surface binding site for Clostridium difficile enterotoxin Evidence for a glycoconjugate containing the sequence Gal alpha l-3Galbeta l-4GlcNAc. Infect Immun 1986 53 573-581. 

A method for selective, radioactive labelling of sialic acids, especially in cell membranes, by mild oxidation with periodate followed by reduction with borotritide, has heen described by Gahmberg and Andersson.200 This procedure can be used either for isolation and characterization of the labelled, cell-surface glycoconjugates (see, for example, Ref. 201) or for autoradiography of tissues and cells (for example, erythrocytes).142... 

Lex-antigenic trisaccharide (a-L-Fuc(l-3)-[p-D-Gal-(l-4)-p-D-GlcNAc]) and its sialylated structure (SLex) are terminal components of a nnmber of glycoconjugates on cell surfaces [31]. SLex serves as a ligand for the endothelial leukocyte molecule-1 (E-selectin) [32], which mediates the initial stages of adhesion of leukocytes to activated endothelial cells, and pays a critical role during inflammatory responses [33]. Lex-based carbohydrates have shown promise in therapeutic investigations related to the inflammatory process. As a result, extensive efforts have been directed toward the synthesis of SLex and related molecules [34 also see Chap. 15],... 

Roberts, D. D., and Mecham, R. P., eds. (1993) Cell Surface and Extracellular Glycoconjugates Structure and Function, Academic Press, San Diego, California... 

Carbohydrate-directed antibodies raised against neoglycoproteins have been used as probes for the presence and function of cell-surface glycoconjugates,135 in much the same way as are lectins138 and natu-... 

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