Glycans attached to the IgG Fc domain affect strongly biological activities such as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) of therapeutic antibodies. However, molecular mechanism in the glycoform-dependent functional modulation of the IgGs remains elusive. The present study communicates that selected reaction monitoring (SRM)-based assay of tryptic IgG Fc glycopeptides is a promising approach for the characterization of antibodies when combined with structure-defined synthetic Fc peptides having a focused N-glycoform as a calibration standard. We describe a novel synthetic approach to the human IgG1 Fc peptide having a bisected decasaccharide and its nonbisected counterpart compound, the signatures of antibodies involving Fc domain with rare N-glycans expected to show much higher ADCC/CDC than abundant IgG N-glycans, and their application to the SRM-based quantitative glycoproteomics. Use of a key intermediate, phenyl (2-O-benzyl-4,6-O-benzylidine-β-d-mannopyranosyl)-(1 → 4)-3,6-di-O-benzyl-2-azido-2-deoxy-1-thio-β-d-glucopyranoside, derived from locust bean gum galactomannan, facilitated greatly the synthesis of a bisected nonasaccharide as a stable precursor of oxazoline derivative needed for the enzymatic trans-glycosylation with Fc nonapeptide carrying a GlcNAc at Asn297 residue, while the coupling reaction catalyzed by mutant endo-M-N175Q proceeded very slowly. Strikingly, SRM assay using the synthetic Fc glycopeptides as calibration standards uncovered the occurrence of the targeted IgG1 Fc fragment carrying a nonfucosylated and bisected (315 fmol, 0.20%) and its nonbisected counterpart (1154 fmol, 0.73%) in the tryptic digests from 158 pmol of anticancer antibody Herceptin (trastuzumab). The results suggest that aberrantly glycosylated IgG Fc variants may contribute to the total biological activities of the therapeutic antibodies.

The conformational impact of the clusteredO-glycans strongly influences recognition by antibodies of the cancer-relevant epitope in the MUC1 extracellular tandem repeat domain.

A new approach for the analysis of polysaccharides in membrane bioreactor (MBR) is proposed in this study. Enrichment of polysaccharides by glyco-blotting, in which polysaccharides are specifically collected via interactions between the aldehydes in the polysaccharides and aminooxy groups on glycoblotting beads, enabled MALDI-TOF/MS analysis at a high resolution. Structures of polysaccharides extracted from fouled membranes used in a pilot-scale MBR treating municipal wastewater and those in the supernatant of the mixed liquor suspension in the MBR were investigated. It was found that the overlap between polysaccharides found in the supernatants and those extracted from the fouled membrane was rather limited, suggesting that polysaccharides that dominate in supernatants may not be important in membrane fouling in MBRs. Analysis using a bacterial carbohydrate database suggested that capsular polysaccharides (CPS) and/or lipo-polysaccharides (LPS) produced by gram-negative bacteria are key players in the evolution of membrane fouling in MBRs.

Utilizing glycosylated derivatives as a tag, we are able to explore novel counter-receptor of endogenous lectins or lectin-like molecules in vivo. We have established the standardized methodology including preparation of glycosylated derivatives and construction of a platform for tracing the molecules in vivo at first. Combined use of an aminooxy-terminated thiol derivative and a phosphorylcholine (PC) derivative provides quantum dots (QDs) with novel functions for the chemical ligation of ketone-functionalized compounds and the prevention of nonspecific protein adsorption concurrently. In order to track the derivatives in vivo, near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging of QDs displaying various simple sugars (glyco-PC-QDs) after administration into the tail vein of the mouse can be performed. It has revealed that distinct long-term delocalization over 2 h can be observed depending on the species of glycans ligated to PC-QDs at least in the liver. Until today we have performed live animal imaging utilizing various kinds of sialyl glyco-PC-QDs. They are still retained stably in whole body after 2 h while they showed significantly different in vivo dynamics in the tissue distribution, suggesting that structure/sequence of the neighboring sugar residues in the individual sialyl oligosaccharides might influence the final organ-specific distribution, which should be equivalent to the distribution of sialic acid-recognizing lectins. Here we describe a standardized protocol using ligand-displayed PC-QDs for live cell/animal imaging by versatile NIR fluorescence photometry without influence of size-dependent accumulation/excretion pathway for nanoparticles (e.g., viruses)>10 nm in hydrodynamic diameter by the liver.

Background: Human serum MUC1 peptide fragments bearing aberrant O-glycans are secreted from columnar epithelial cell surfaces and known as clinically important serum biomarkers for the epithelial carcinoma when a specific monoclonal antibody can probe disease-relevant epitopes. Despite the growing importance of MUC1 glycopeptides as biomarkers, the precise epitopes of most anti-MUC1 monoclonal antibodies remains unclear.Methods: A novel protocol for the fabrication of versatile microarray displaying peptide/glycopeptide library was investigated for the construction of highly sensitive and accurate epitope mapping assay of various anti-MUC1 antibodies.Results: Selective imine-coupling between aminooxy-functionalized methaciylic copolymer with phosphorylcholine unit and synthetic MUC1 glycopeptides-capped by a ketone linker at N-terminus provided a facile and seamless protocol for the preparation of glycopeptides microarray platform. It was demonstrated that anti-KL-6 monoclonal antibody shows an extremely specific and strong binding affinity toward MUC1 fragments carrying sialyl T antigen (Neu5Ac alpha 2,3Gal beta 1,3GalNAc alpha 1 ->) at Pro-Asp-Thr-Arg motif when compared with other seven anti-MUD monoclonal antibodies such as VU-3D, VU-12E1, VU-11E2, Ma552, VU-3C6, SM3, and DF3. The present microarray also uncovered the occurrence of IgG autoantibodies in healthy human sera that bind specifically with sialyl T antigen attached at five potential O-glycosylation sites of MUD tandem repeats.Conclusion: We established a straightforward strategy toward the standardized microarray platform allowing highly sensitive and accurate epitope mapping analysis by reducing the background noise due to nonspecific protein adsorption.General significance: The present approach would greatly accelerate the discovery research of new class autoantibodies as well as the development of therapeutic mAbs reacting specifically with disease-relevant epitopes. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel protocol for the synthesis of general N-glycan core structures was established by means of Manβ(1→4)Man peracetate derived from a naturally abundant locust bean gum as a key starting material. Phenyl (2-O-benzyl-4,6-O-benzylidine-β-D-mannopyranosyl)-(1→4)-3,6-di-O-benzyl-2-azido-2-deoxy-1-thio-β-D-glucopyranoside facilitated the synthesis of key intermediates leading to hyperbranched N-glycan core structures.

Membrane fouling remains a major obstacle for wider application of membrane bioreactors (MBRs) to wastewater treatment. Polysaccharides in mixed liquor suspensions in the reactors are thought to be mainly responsible for the evolution of membrane fouling in MBRs. However, details of polysaccharides causing membrane fouling in MBRs are still unknown. In this study, polysaccharides in a mixed liquor suspension of a pilot-scale MBR treating municipal wastewater were fractionated by using lectins, special proteins that bind to specific polysaccharides depending on their properties. Fouling potentials of the fractionated polysaccharides were assessed by bench-scale dead-end filtration tests. It was clearly shown that the degrees of fouling caused by fractionated polysaccharides were significantly different. The amounts of polysaccharides in each fraction could not explain the variations in the fouling, indicating the presence of polysaccharides with high specific fouling potentials. To investigate structures and origins of the polysaccharides with high fouling potentials, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-time of flight (TOF)/mass spectrometry (MS) analysis was applied to the fractionated polysaccharides after partial hydrolysis. Several mass peaks obtained could be assigned to fragments of structures of polysaccharides (i.e., oligosaccharides) reported in a database/literature. This is the first report showing the plausible structures of polysaccharides in MBRs based on MS. A deeper understanding and effective control of membrane fouling in MBRs could be achieved with information obtained by the approach used in this study.

A potent inhibitor for Vibrio cholerae neuraminidase (VCNA) was developed by using a novel two-step strategy, a target amino acid validation using mechanism-based labeling information, and a potent inhibitor search using a focused library. The labeling information suggested the hidden dynamics of a loop structure of VCNA, which can be a potential target of the novel inhibitor. A focused library composed of 187 compounds was prepared from a 9-azide derivative of 2,3-dehydro-N-acetylneuraminic acid (DANA) to interrupt the function of the loop of the labeled residues. Inhibitor 3 c showed potent inhibition properties and was the strongest inhibitor with FANA, a N-trifluoroacetyl derivative of DANA. Validation studies of the inhibitor with a detergent and a Lineweaver-Burk plot suggested that the 9-substitution group would interact hydrophobically with the target loop moiety, adding a noncompetitive inhibition property to the DANA skeleton. This information enabled us to design compound 4 having the combined structure of 3 c and FANA. Compound 4 showed the most potent inhibition (K(i) =73 nM, mixed inhibition) of VCNA with high selectivity among the tested viral, bacterial, and mammal neuraminidases.