Glycobiology Advance Access first published online on December 3, 2007
This version published online on December 8, 2007
Glycobiology, doi:10.1093/glycob/cwm129
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Communications |
Sensitive Detection of Isoglobo and Globo Series Tetraglycosylceramides in Human Thymus by Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry
1 Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77054, USA
2 Institute of Biomedicine, Department of Medical Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Göteborg University, SE-40530 Göteborg, Sweden
3 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Pathology and Committee of Immunology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
4 Department of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3598, USA
* Corresponding author: dzhou{at}mdanderson.org, Tel: 713-7923134, Fax: 713-5633424; slevery{at}cisunix.unh.edu, Tel: 603-8622529, Fax: 603-8624278.
Received on September 30, 2007; accepted on November 28, 2007
Glycosphingolipids serve as ligands for receptors involved in signal transduction and immune recognition, as exemplified by isoglobotrihexosylceramide, an antigenic ligand for T cell receptors. Mechanistic studies on the regulation of isoglobotrihexosylceramide require biochemical measurement of its lysosomal precursor, isoglobotetraglycosylceramide. It remains a challenge to distinguish between complex tetraglycosylceramide glycosphingolipid isomers with the same sugar components but diverse internal linkages. Here we established a simple and sensitive method to separate globo and isoglobo tetraglycosylceramide by MS5 ion trap mass spectrometry, and report the identification of isoglobotetraglycosylceramide in a CHO cell line transfected by iGb3 synthase, as well as in human thymus.
Key words: Natural Killer T cells / CD1d / Glycosphingolipid / isoglobotetraglycosylceramide / Ion trap MS
Scheme 1 has been corrected