Sialic acid immunology

The immunologically specific substance characteristic of Group C Meningococcus has already been mentioned this was extracted from phenol-killed organisms, and protein was removed by the Sevag method after fractionation with ethanol, nucleic acid was removed as the copper salt. The product contained 5 % of nitrogen and 11 % of acetyl, and hexosamine was the only constituent other than sialic acid. ... 

Both FSH and LH contain carbohydrate which is easily removed by mild hydrolysis. Sialic acid is necessary for the biological, but not for the immunological, activity of FSH. Consideration is given to the importance of carbohydrate moieties in the assay of both gonadotropic hormones. 

The serum cobalophilins, transcobalamin I and III (TCI and TCIII), are immunologically identical and may differ only in their carbohydrate content. TCI moves as an a ] -globulin in standard serum protein electrophoresis, while TCIII moves as an a2-globuIin owing to its lower sialic acid content. Plasma TCIII... 

The most well-known urinary glycoprotein is the Tamm-Horsfall mucoprotein (THM). It is argued that the THM and uromucoid are both artifacts from the same native precursor and differ only in their sialic acid content (Kl). They are similar immunologically (Kl). The molecular mass of THM is 7 x 106 Da (Tl), with subunits of about 100,000 Da (F3). THM is synthesized by the cells of the thick ascending limb of Henle in the nephron (LI, R3). 

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