Selectin ligands oligosaccharide

Conformational Analysis by NMR Spectroscopy of Selectin Ligand Oligosaccharides... 

The precise chemical nature of some of the ligands involved in selectin-ligand interactions has been determined. All three selectins bind sialylated and fucosy-lated oligosaccharides, and in particular all three bind sialyl-Lewis (Figure 47-12), a structure present on both glycoproteins and glycolipids. Whether this compound is the actual ligand involved in vivo is not estab-... 

Carbohydrate-mediated cell adhesion is an important event which can be initiated by tissue injury or infection and is involved in metastasis. One such adhesion process is the interaction between the glycoprotein E-selectin and oligosaccharides on the surface of neutrophils (white blood cells). The ligand that E-selectin recognizes is the tetrasaccharide sialyl Lewis X (SLe ). Since SLe competes with white blood cells for binding to E-selectin, thus inhibiting the adhesion process, it may useful as an anti-inflammatoiy and anticancer agent. 

Figure 1 Structure of L-selectin ligand and MECA-79 epitope. L-Selectin recognizes sulfated sialyl Lewis X structure (27) presented by O-glycans and A-glycans, marked by dotted-lines. MECA-79 antibody is specific to sulfated extended core 1 O-glycan marked by solid-lines, but MECA-79 antibody also recognizes this oligosaccharide with sialic acid and fucose (24,28,29).

Ellies, L. G., S. Tsuboi, B. Petryniak, J. B. Lowe, M. Fukuda, and J. D. Marth, Core 2 oligosaccharide biosynthesis distinguishes between selectin ligands essential for leukocyte homing and inflammation, Immunity, 1998, 9, 881-890. 

---