The new era of glycohistochemistry: how human lectins translate the sugar code

Histochemists are familiar with the occurrence of glycosylation and the presence of cellular glycoconjugates. in fact, glycan structures detected by laboratory tools (plant/inverte- brate lectins, monoclonal antibodies) can be markers for cell typing or an activation status, their profile serving as molecular fingerprints. The growing awareness of the unsurpassed coding capacity of oligosaccharides and the role of human lectins to translate this information into cellular effects give us an entirely fresh view on the significance of glycosylation (1, 2). Following an introduction to the concept of the sugar code, case studies on physiological orchestration of glycosylation/ lectin expression in tumor-suppressor-dependent tumor cell growth regulation and in autoimmunity will guide to understand the biofunctionality of glycan-lectin recognition (for review, please see 3). A brief survey of the toolbox, applied together with Prof. K. Smetana Jr. (Charles University), is then intended to inspire joint research projects.

References

1. H.-J. Gabius (ed) The Sugar Code. Fundamentals of glycosciences. Wiley-VCH, 2009.
2. H.-J. Gabius et al., From lectin structure to functional glycomics: the sugar code. Trends Biochem. Sci. 2011; 36: 298-313.
3. K. Smetana Jr. et al., Context-dependent multifunctionality of galectin-1: a challenge for defining the lectin as therapeutic target. Exp. Opin. Ther. Targ. 2013; 17: 379-392.