Lectin is regarded as a potentially useful tool to study sialoglycoproteins and sialoglycolipids. CD BioGlyco has been committed to sialic acid research for many years and provides first-class cell surface sialic acid analysis services using sialic acid-specific lectins through histochemistry, flow cytometry, fluorescence, and lectin microarray.
Sialic acids are a family of nine-carbon α-keto acids located at the non-reducing end of the oligosaccharide chains of glycoproteins and glycolipids. They show great structural diversity and exist either free or linked to galactose (Gal), N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc), or N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) residues via α2,3- or α2,6-bonds. Sialic acids also exist as a2,8- or a2,9-linked linear homopolymer polysialic acid. N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) is the most common form of sialic acid and is found in animals and some prokaryotes. Sialic acids are involved in various important biological processes, such as cell recognition, adhesion, signal transduction, and immune response, and are closely related to human health and disease. Therefore, detection and analysis of cell surface sialic acids are critical for understanding relevant physiological and pathological processes.
Fig.1 The family of naturally occurring sialic acid. (Ghosh, 2020)
Lectins are carbohydrate-binding proteins that specifically recognize naturally occurring glycoproteins and glycolipids. Some lectins specifically recognize different linked terminal sialic acid residues, such as Wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) specifically recognizes Neu5Ac and GlcNAc(β1,4)GlcNAc, Maackia amurensis agglutinin (MAA) specifically recognizes Neu5Ac(α2,3)Gal/GalNAc, Sambucus nigra lectin (SNA) specifically recognizes Neu5Ac(α2,6)Gal/GalNAc. Therefore, lectins are regarded as potentially useful tools to study sialoglycoproteins and sialoglycolipids. Sialic acid-specific lectins are used to analyze cell surface sialic acid expression. At present, lectin has been widely used to analyze the sialic acid on the cell surface by lectin blot, lectin microarray, histochemistry, and flow cytometry.
Fig.2 Confocal microscopy analysis of cell surface sialic acids. (Zhang, 2018)
Lectins are powerful tools for analyzing cell surface sialic acid expression. CD BioGlyco provides first-class cell surface sialic acid analysis services using sialic acid-specific lectins such as WGA, MAA, SNA, Siglecs-1, Siglecs-2, Siglec-E by the following methods:
Lectin histochemistry provides detailed information on the occurrence, distribution, and differential expression of sialic acid residues in tissues and is used to study the abnormal expression of sialic acid glycoconjugates in cancer.
We determine the expression of sialic acid residues on the surface of cancer cells by flow cytometry using fluorescently labeled sialic acid-specific lectins. In addition, we combine flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy to analyze cell surface sialic acid glycoconjugates.
Except for sialic acid analysis, we also provide glycosylation analysis on the cell surface by lectin microarrays.
CD BioGlyco provides a one-stop Sialic Acid Analysis Service through different efficient Strategies for our clients worldwide. If you are interested in our sialic acid-specific lectin analysis strategy, please feel free to contact us for more information.
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