Glycobiology Advance Access published online on July 14, 2008
Glycobiology, doi:10.1093/glycob/cwn063
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Lectin microarrays identify cell-specific and functionally significant cell surface glycan markers
1 Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
2 The High-Throughput Biology Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205
3 Department of Pathology, Oncology & Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205
4 Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205
5 Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21205
6 Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
* To whom the correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hzhu4{at}jhmi.edu and jschnec1{at}jhmi.edu
Received on May 8, 2008; accepted on June 23, 2008
Glycosylation is among the most complex post-translational modifications with an extremely high level of diversity that has made it refractory to high-throughput analyses. Despite its resistance to high-throughput techniques, glycosylation is important in many critical cellular processes that necessitate a productive approach to their analysis. To facilitate studies in glycosylation, we developed a high-throughput lectin microarray for defining mammalian cell surface glycan signatures. Using the lectin microarray we established a binary analysis of cell binding and hierarchical organization of 24 mammalian cell lines. The array was also used to document changes in cell surface glycosylation during cell development and differentiation of primary murine immune system cells. To establish the biological and clinical importance of glycan signatures, the lectin microarray was applied in two systems. First, we analyzed the cell surface glycan signatures and were able to predict mannose-dependent tropism using a model pathogen. Second, we used the glycan signatures to identify novel lectin biomarkers for cancer stem-like cells in a murine model. Thus, lectin microarrays are an effective tool for analyzing diverse cell processes including cell development and differentiation, cell-cell communication, pathogen-host recognition, and cell surface biomarker identification.
Key words: biomaker / cell differentiation / pathogen tropism / glycan signature / lectin microarray
These authors contributed equally. Two supplementary tables and five supplementary figures attached.