53. Key Technologies and Tools for Functional Glycobiology: Introduction

Excerpt

Various glycans that are located at the cellular surfaces as glycosphingolipids, glycoproteins, and proteoglycans, deposited in the extracellular matrices and bound to secretory proteins have a variety of crucial roles in the phenotypic expression of cellular genotypes. General technologies such as chemical synthesis, spectrometric analysis using UV, fluorescence, CD, NMR, and SPR have greatly contributed to the insight into the molecular basis of structural features and functional roles of many glycoconjugates. Although there have been substantial advances in our understanding of the effects of glycosylation on some biological systems, we still do not fully understand the significance and mechanism of glycoform alteration observed widely in many human diseases. As a result, the therapeutic potential of complex glycans has not been well exploited with a few notable exceptions. This chapter describes background and provides a brief introduction of recent advances in new technologies and tools for glycomic approaches that should greatly accelerate functional glycobiology and their clinical applications. …