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We report bovine serum albumin (BSA)-boronic acid (BA) conjugates as lectin mimetics and their glyco-capturing capacity. The BSA-BA conjugates were synthesized by amidation of carboxylic acid groups in BSA with aminophenyl boronic acid in the presence of EDC, and were characterized by Alizarin Red S (ARS) assay and SDS-PAGE gel. The BSA-BA conjugates were immobilized onto maleimide-functionalized silica beads and their sugar capturing capacity and specificity were confirmed by ARS displacement assay. Further, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis of the glyco-capturing activity of the BSA-BA conjugates was conducted by immobilizing BSA-BA onto SPR gold chip. Overall, we demonstrated a BSA-BA-based lectin mimetics for glyco-capturing applications. These lectin mimetics are expected to provide an important tool for glycomics and biosensor research and applications., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Sialic acids (SAs) are nine-carbon monosaccharides existing at the terminal location of glycan structures on the cell surface and secreted glycoconjugates. The expression levels and linkages of SAs on cells and tissues, collectively known as sialoform, present the hallmark of the cells and tissues of different systems and conditions. Accordingly, detecting or profiling cell surface sialoforms is very critical for understanding the function of cell surface glycans and glycoconjugates and even the molecular mechanisms of their underlying biological processes. Further, it may provide therapeutic and diagnostic applications for different diseases. In the past decades, several kinds of SA-specific binding molecules have been developed for detecting and profiling specific sialoforms of cells and tissues; the experimental materials have expanded from frozen tissue to living cells; and the analytical technologies have advanced from histochemistry to fluorescent imaging, flow cytometry and microarrays. This review summarizes the recent bioaffinity approaches for directly detecting and profiling specific SAs or sialylglycans, and their modifications of different cells and tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycopolymers as multivalent clusters of carbohydrate derivatives have been proven effective tools in the study of carbohydrate-based biological processes and have shown great potential in biomedical applications. It has been found that the shape and size of glycopolymers, as well as the density and relative positioning of their glycan appendages, are very important regarding their effectiveness in bio-interactions. Recently, a variety of chain-end functionalized polymers have been explored for the preparation of structurally well-defined glycopolymers that have potential protein modification and microarray fabrication applications. This review summarizes recent advances in the synthesis and biomedical applications of chain-end functionalized glycopolymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macrophages are a type of functionally plastic cells that can create a pro-/anti-inflammatory microenvironment for organs by producing different kinds of cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors to regulate immunity and inflammatory responses. In addition, they can also be induced to adopt different phenotypes in response to extracellular and intracellular signals, a process defined as M1/M2 polarization. Growing evidence indicates that glycobiology is closely associated with this polarization process. In this research, we review studies of the roles of glycosylation, glucose metabolism, and key lectins in the regulation of macrophages function and polarization to provide a new perspective for immunotherapies for multiple diseases. Schematic representation of glycosylation, glucose metabolism and lectins associated with macrophages polarization. The polarization phenotypes of macrophages are dramatically influenced by alterations of glycosylation, glucose metabolism and lectins. On account that nearly all functional membrane proteins on the surface of macrophages are glycosylated, various glycosylation modifications such as O -GlcNAylation, N -glycosylation and sialylation can significantly affect their active state and functional characteristics. O -GlcNAylation and N -glycosylation exhibit a relatively complicated effects on macrophages polarization mainly through regulating NF-κB pathway. In details, they can activate NF-κB pathways in some disease models so as to induce macrophages into the pro-inflammatory M1 phenotype while in others, they may possibly inhibit NF-κB pathways to induce macrophages into anti-inflammatory M2 phenotype. By comparison, the influence of sialylation on macrophages polarization seems more simple that it can enhance macrophages' tolerance to LPS and primarily induce them into M2 phenotype. Glucose metabolism can provide energy and substrates for glycosylation process, which also contributes to the transition between M1 and M2 type macrophages. The strengthen of glycolysis as well as PPP can induce macrophages into M1 phenotype while enhancement of HBP as well as TCA cycle can induce them into M2 macrophages. Lectins, which can specifically recognize glycans, also contribute to macrophages polarization. Siglec-E，Dectin-1 and Mincle can induce macrophages into M1 phenotype while Siglec-9，Siglec-15 and CD206 can induce macrophages into M2 phenotype. [Display omitted] • This review focuses on the effects of glycobiology for macrophage polarization. • This review explores the consequences of glycosylation, glucose metabolism and lectins in macrophage polarization. • This review proposes new potential immunotherapies targeting for macrophages in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]