GlycobiologyPub Date : 2026-08-23DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwag070
Jun Peng, Ming Yang, Anika Mijakovac, Ken L Chambliss, Md Nurul Islam, Tamara Štambuk, Domagoj Kifer, Kenian Chen, Iwona Borošak, Helena Deriš, Kristina Nikolić Prpić, Nancy Monson, Ildiko Lingvay, Olga T Gupta, Vlatka Zoldoš, Gordan Lauc, Jacob Hartz, Lin Xu, Chieko Mineo, Philip W Shaul
{"title":"B cell mechanisms underlie IgG glycan alterations in obesity.","authors":"Jun Peng, Ming Yang, Anika Mijakovac, Ken L Chambliss, Md Nurul Islam, Tamara Štambuk, Domagoj Kifer, Kenian Chen, Iwona Borošak, Helena Deriš, Kristina Nikolić Prpić, Nancy Monson, Ildiko Lingvay, Olga T Gupta, Vlatka Zoldoš, Gordan Lauc, Jacob Hartz, Lin Xu, Chieko Mineo, Philip W Shaul","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag070","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag070","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Insulin resistance is a major complication of obesity. In adults with obesity insulin resistance is associated with a hyposialylation of the Fc-linked glycan on IgG, and a causal link between IgG hyposialylation and glucose dysregulation has been demonstrated in obese mice. What is unknown is how obesity causes the changes in IgG glycosylation. To avoid factors besides obesity that may influence IgG glycosylation, we sought to fill this knowledge gap by studying adolescents with and without obesity. We demonstrate that in pediatric obesity IgG is hyposialylated and hypogalactosylated, with the changes most apparent in females, and that this is related to an upregulation of B cell WNT3, a GWAS-identified candidate gene for IgG glycosylation whose function in glycan modulation was previously unknown. In parallel, WNT3 is upregulated in B cells from obese mice. Linkage between WNT3 upregulation and decreased IgG galactosylation and sialylation was demonstrated in both a HEK293FS cell model and an ARH-77 B lymphoblast cell line. These observations indicate that obesity causes IgG hypogalactosylation and resulting hyposialylation by previously unrecognized actions of WNT3 which regulate IgG galactosylation in B cells. Better understanding of how obesity alters the unique glycobiology of IgG offers the possibility of identifying additional therapeutic targets in the battle against the insulin resistance that complicates obesity.</p>","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13574287/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148857276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GlycobiologyPub Date : 2026-08-23DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwag073
Mohammed Auwal Ibrahim, Mohammed Aliyu Usman, Aliyu Dantani Abdullahi, Murtala Bindawa Isah, Auwal Adamu
{"title":"The state of Glycobiology research in the African continent: urgent need for reinvigoration.","authors":"Mohammed Auwal Ibrahim, Mohammed Aliyu Usman, Aliyu Dantani Abdullahi, Murtala Bindawa Isah, Auwal Adamu","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag073","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag073","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148880085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Defined O-acetylated Neu5Ac substrates reveal position-specific preferences of gut bacterial sialidases.","authors":"Nikita Podvalnyy, Luca Plan, Sereina Gut, Patricia Figueiredo-Campos, Cecilia A Lai, Thierry Hennet","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag078","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag078","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sialic acid on intestinal glycans is modified by O-acetylation, a modification that can protect glycans from bacterial degradation and modulate immune recognition. However, the specificity of gut bacterial sialidases toward O-acetylated sialic acid remains poorly defined. Here, we characterized six GH33 sialidases from Bacteroides spp. and Akkermansia muciniphila using chemically defined 4-methylumbelliferyl substrates bearing 4-O-, 7-O-, or 8/9-O-acetylated N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac). All enzymes adopted the canonical β-propeller fold and displayed distinct substrate preferences. While 8/9-O-acetylated Neu5Ac was broadly tolerated and 7-O-acetylation variably accommodated, all commensal sialidases were unable to cleave 4-O-acetylated Neu5Ac. Endogenous murine caecal sialidase activity showed the same pattern. Removal of the 4-O-acetyl group by a viral sialate O-acetylesterase restored cleavage, demonstrating that the C4 acetyl group directly prevents hydrolysis. On primary colonic and splenic lymphocytes, the bacterial sialidases produced enzyme-, linkage-, cell-type-, and tissue-dependent changes in sialic acid-dependent lectin and Siglec-E-Fc binding. In colon tissue, however, only the broad-spectrum pathogen-derived NanI sialidase consistently reduced SNA, MAL2, and Siglec-E-Fc binding, while the commensal enzymes caused more restricted changes. These findings demonstrate pronounced position-dependent effects of Neu5Ac O-acetylation on the activity of the sialidases tested and reveal substantial enzyme-specific differences in the processing of defined O-acetylated substrates.</p>","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13580081/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148905787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Acrolein-mediated carbonylation of proheparanase-1 drives endothelial glycocalyx degradation in human immortalized brain microvascular endothelial cells.","authors":"Shizuno Matsuda, Masahiro Komeno, Machi Morishita, Akari Shino, Jia Shi, Momo Shimekake, Kaho Kurano, Tomomi Furihata, Nobuaki Higashi, Itsuko Ishii, Toshihiko Toida, Kazuei Igarashi, Kyohei Higashi","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag056","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag056","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The endothelial glycocalyx plays a pivotal role in maintaining blood-brain barrier integrity, and its degradation promotes leukocyte adhesion and transendothelial migration. We previously reported that the degradation of heparan sulfate (HS), a major structural component of the glycocalyx, aggravated inflammation after stroke onset. In addition, acrolein (ACR), an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde generated following stroke onset, promoted HS degradation via activation of proheparanase-1 (proHPSE1), the inactive precursor of heparanase-1 (HPSE1). However, whether this ACR-mediated HS degradation occurs in a cell-type specific manner and contributes to endothelial glycocalyx dysfunction, particularly by enhancing leukocyte adhesion, remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that ACR-mediated HS degradation promotes THP-1 cell adhesion to human immortalized brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMEC/ci18). Immunocytochemistry staining indicated that proHPSE1 was visualized on both HBMEC/ci18 and EA.hy926 cells. However, HS localization in HBMEC/ci18 cells differed from that in EA.hy926 cells, which may underlie the differential response of ACR-dependent HS degradation. Furthermore, supplementation of proHPSE1 containing ACR-carbonylated lysine residues directly induced HS degradation in HBMEC/ci18 cells. These results suggest that monocyte adhesion following glycocalyx degradation may be triggered by ACR-induced carbonylation of proHPSE1 during brain infarction. HBMEC/ci18 cells exposed to ACR or treated with carbonylated proHPSE1 provide a useful model for screening agents that protect the endothelial glycocalyx.</p>","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148591284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GlycobiologyPub Date : 2026-08-23DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwag061
Qinghui An, Hina Farooq, Anqi Wang, Yuyang Lou, Mengli Liu, Jiyong Su
{"title":"Dynamic expression of α-1,2-glucan synthase in Nostoc sp. PCC 7120 and biochemical characterization of an α-1,2-glucan phosphorylase.","authors":"Qinghui An, Hina Farooq, Anqi Wang, Yuyang Lou, Mengli Liu, Jiyong Su","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag061","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag061","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>α-1,2-glucans are polysaccharides characterized by their unique α-1,2-glycosidic bonds and right-handed helical structure, which suggest novel biological functions. The alr1000 protein in Nostoc sp. PCC 7120 is the key enzyme for synthesizing α-1,2-glucans. In this study, we prepared rabbit antiserum for alr1000 and investigated its expressions when Nostoc sp. PCC 7120 is subjected to high salinity and high temperature stress. The results showed that under high salinity (up to 200 mM) and high temperature (40 °C) conditions, alr1000 expression reached its highest level at 4 h. This suggests that the elevated expression of alr1000 initiates massive production of α-1,2-glucans within Nostoc sp. PCC 7120, which helps the organism survive these stressful conditions. In addition, we identified and characterized the degrading enzymes of α-1,2-glucans. All4989, a GH65 family α-1,2-glucan phosphorylase from Nostoc sp. PCC 7120, was found to degrade α-1,2-glucans through a mechanism where a phosphate serves as the nucleophile to cleave the α-1,2-glycosidic bonds of α-1,2-glucans, while Glu485 functions as a general acid. Furthermore, the enzyme also catalyzes an efficient reverse reaction, synthesizing α-1,2-glucans of different molecular weights using breakdown products as substrates. Mechanistically, this process involves a key functional shift: Glu485 acts as a general acid during the forward degradation and switches to acting as a general base during the reverse synthesis.</p>","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148669167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GlycobiologyPub Date : 2026-08-23DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwag062
Antonio Lembo, Gian Luca Sardone, Michela Aurilia, Immacolata Speciale, Cristina De Castro, Massimiliano Biagini
{"title":"Site-specific and global glycan analysis of the human cytomegalovirus pentameric glycoprotein by high resolution mass spectrometry.","authors":"Antonio Lembo, Gian Luca Sardone, Michela Aurilia, Immacolata Speciale, Cristina De Castro, Massimiliano Biagini","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag062","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag062","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) gH/gL/UL128/UL130/UL131A complex (Pentamer) is among the candidates for the development of a vaccine against HCMV; indeed, it brought to more immunogenic formulations which were able to protect the fetus against vertical transmission in pregnant women. Pentamer-specific antibodies have shown to be hundredfold more potent than gB or gH/gL antibodies, endowed with strong neutralizing activity. The often inadequate antibody immune response elicited by glycoprotein antigen has been, in part, attributed to the abundance of glycosylation on the protein. Here, we determine the composite glycan population of each of the N-linked and O-linked glycosylation sites present on the Pentamer by multienzymatic proteolysis and mass spectrometry; furthermore, total N-glycans profiles of Pentamer expressed in different cell systems have been compared exploiting the glycan fluorescent labeling and the immunogenicity of Pentamer with different glycosylation patterns has been investigated. Our analysis reveals the presence of underprocessed oligomannose-type glycans on some glycosylation sequons, which are probably derived as a result of sterically reduced accessibility to glycan processing enzymes. Furthermore, the antigen glycosylation pattern affects the elicitation of neutralizing antibodies in mice.</p>","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13513752/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148678306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GlycobiologyPub Date : 2026-08-23DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwag067
Sergey A Samsonov, Adam Sieradzan, Avner Yayon
{"title":"Understanding fibroblast growth factor-heparan sulfate recognition by molecular dynamics approaches.","authors":"Sergey A Samsonov, Adam Sieradzan, Avner Yayon","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag067","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag067","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Glycosaminoglycans, linear periodic anionic polysaccharides composed of repeating disaccharide units, are highly heterogeneous with respect to their chemical composition, sulfation patterns, conformational, dynamic and functional properties. The \"sulfation code,\" which links specific sulfation patterns of these molecules to their biological function, is a key concept for understanding their structure-function relationships. However, both experimental and computational approaches face significant challenges in deciphering this code. In this computational study, we focus on fibroblast growth factor-glycosaminoglycan interactions, which play crucial roles in numerous biologically relevant processes. First, we evaluate the sensitivity and predictive power of currently available computational protocols for studying these systems. We then rigorously investigate the effects of heparin 6-O-desulfation on its interactions with several fibroblast growth factors. We conclude that, depending on the 6-O-sulfation pattern and the length of the oligosaccharide, either predominantly electrostatic interactions or a more complex interplay between electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions determines the specificity of the resulting protein-glycosaminoglycan complex. Finally, we demonstrate that a previously developed coarse-grained model successfully reproduces both the structural and thermodynamic properties of the analysed molecular systems. The results obtained in this study may contribute to the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying protein-glycosaminoglycan interactions and represent a further step toward deciphering the glycosaminoglycan \"sulfation code.\"</p>","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148792187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GlycobiologyPub Date : 2026-08-23DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwag057
Wei-Ze Kong, Yann Guerardel, Morihisa Fujita
{"title":"GlycoMsHelper: a simple and traceable workflow for Glycomic mass spectrometry data interpretation.","authors":"Wei-Ze Kong, Yann Guerardel, Morihisa Fujita","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag057","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag057","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Glycosylation is a fundamental post-translational and lipid modification that plays critical roles in diverse cellular processes. Although mass spectrometry (MS) is the primary platform for glycomic analysis, large-scale interpretation of glycomic MS data remains heavily dependent on expert manual annotation, creating a major bottleneck. Key challenges include effective spectral denoising and reliable identification of glycan-derived tandem MS (MS2) spectra. Here, we present GlycoMsHelper, a simple and flexible R-based workflow for positive-ion mode glycomic MS composition analysis. GlycoMsHelper integrates multiple denoising strategies with logical expression-based recognition of diagnostic fragment ion patterns to identify glycan-derived MS2 spectra. Candidate spectra are matched against glycan libraries constructed using curated biosynthetic constraints, generating traceable outputs for downstream validation. By defining appropriate parameters, the workflow can be applied to diverse glycan classes, including N-glycans, O-glycans, and glycosphingolipids (GSLs). Because each module operates independently, produces standardized outputs, and is supported by a graphical user interface, GlycoMsHelper can be readily integrated into existing glycomic analysis workflows. In an N-glycan MS dataset containing 43 expert-curated compositions, GlycoMsHelper correctly identified 42 compositions. Application to GSL and O-glycan datasets further demonstrated its versatility and enabled identification of glycan compositions overlooked during manual annotation. GlycoMsHelper is particularly useful for exploratory analysis of newly acquired or previously uncharacterized datasets lacking established reference libraries, providing an accessible and practical solution for semi-automated composition-level interpretation of glycomic MS data.</p>","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148602149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GlycobiologyPub Date : 2026-08-23DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwag065
Xiaoshuang Wang, James C Paulson
{"title":"Impact of sialyltransferase deletion in mature T cells on control of subcutaneous and metastatic cancers.","authors":"Xiaoshuang Wang, James C Paulson","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag065","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag065","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To investigate the roles of the α2,3-sialyltransferase ST3Gal1 and the α2,6-sialyltransferase ST6Gal1 in T cell-mediated tumor control, we generated mice with mature T cell-specific deletion of ST3Gal1 (T-ST3KO) or ST6Gal1 (T-ST6KO) using distal Lck-Cre-mediated recombination. Deletion of ST3Gal1 in mature T cells did not affect thymic T cell development but resulted in a reduction of peripheral CD8+ T cells. In contrast, ST6Gal1 deletion had minimal impact on T cell development and peripheral T cell abundance. Following in vitro stimulation of isolated T cells from T-ST3KO and parental wild type (WT) mice with anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28/CD80-Fc, CD8+ T cells from T-ST3KO mice exhibited enhanced activation and an increased frequency of CD44 positive memory-like T cells, while comparison of T cells from T-ST6KO and the parental WT mice showed no significant changes. Despite the activated CD8+ T cell phenotype in T-ST3KO mice, subcutaneous MC38 tumors displayed accelerated growth. In contrast, tumor progression in T-ST6KO mice was unchanged from the parental WT mice. Notably, T-ST6KO mice developed increased pulmonary metastases following intravenous challenge with B16F10 melanoma cells, whereas metastatic burden was unaffected in T-ST3KO mice. These findings demonstrate distinct and non-redundant roles for ST3Gal1- and ST6Gal1-mediated sialylation in regulating T cell function and antitumor immunity and reveal context-dependent effects of T cell intrinsic sialylation in controlling primary tumor growth and metastatic dissemination.</p>","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13513753/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148792146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GlycobiologyPub Date : 2026-08-23DOI: 10.1093/glycob/cwag074
Tiandi Yang
{"title":"Glyco you should know.","authors":"Tiandi Yang","doi":"10.1093/glycob/cwag074","DOIUrl":"10.1093/glycob/cwag074","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12766,"journal":{"name":"Glycobiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2026-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148880034","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}