Glycosaminoglycans: Sorting determinants in intracellular protein traffic

The spatio-temporal control of effector T cell migration

Effector T cells leave the lymph nodes armed with specialized functional attributes. Their antigenic targets may be located anywhere in the body, posing the ultimate challenge: how to efficiently identify the target tissue, navigate through a complex tissue matrix and, ultimately, locate the immunological insult. Recent advances in real-time in situ imaging of effector T cell migratory behaviour have revealed a great degree of mechanistic plasticity that enables effector T cells to push and squeeze their way through inflamed tissues. This process is shaped by an array of 'stop' and 'go' guidance signals including target antigens, chemokines, integrin ligands and the mechanical cues of the inflamed microenvironment. Effector T cells must sense and interpret these competing signals to correctly position themselves to mediate their effector functions for complete and durable responses in infectious disease and malignancy. Tuning T cell migration therapeutically will require a new understanding of this complex decision-making process.

Elucidating Carbohydrate-Protein Interactions Using Nanoparticle-Based Approaches

Carbohydrates are present on every living cell and coordinate important processes such as self/non-self discrimination. They are amongst the first molecular determinants to be encountered when cellular interactions are initiated. In particular, they resemble essential molecular fingerprints such as pathogen-, danger-, and self-associated molecular patterns guiding key decision-making in cellular immunology. Therefore, a deeper understanding of how cellular receptors of the immune system recognize incoming particles, based on their carbohydrate signature and how this information is translated into a biological response, will enable us to surgically manipulate them and holds promise for novel therapies. One approach to elucidate these early recognition events of carbohydrate interactions at cellular surfaces is the use of nanoparticles coated with defined carbohydrate structures. These particles are captured by carbohydrate receptors and initiate a cellular cytokine response. In the case of endocytic receptors, the capturing enables the engulfment of exogenous particles. Thereafter, the particles are sorted and degraded during their passage in the endolysosomal pathway. Overall, these processes are dependent on the nature of the endocytic carbohydrate receptors and consequently reflect upon the carbohydrate patterns on the exogenous particle surface. This interplay is still an under-studied subject. In this review, we summarize the application of nanoparticles as a promising tool to monitor complex carbohydrate-protein interactions in a cellular context and their application in areas of biomedicine.

Drug delivery systems based on CD44-targeted glycosaminoglycans for cancer therapy

The polysaccharide-based biomaterials hyaluronic acid (HA) and chondroitin sulfate (CS) have aroused great interest for use in drug delivery systems for tumor therapy, as they have outstanding biocompatibility and great targeting ability for cluster determinant 44 (CD44). In addition, modified HA and CS can self-assemble into micelles or micellar nanoparticles (NPs) for targeted drug delivery. This review discusses the formation of HA- and CS-based NPs, and various types of CS-based NPs including CS-drug conjugates, CS-polymer NPs, CS-small molecule NPs, polyelectrolyte nanocomplexes (PECs), CS-metal NPs, and nanogels. We then focus on the applications of HA- and CS-based NPs in tumor chemotherapy, gene therapy, photothermal therapy (PTT), photodynamic therapy (PDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), and immunotherapy. Finally, this review is expected to provide guidelines for the development of various HA- and CS-based NPs used in multiple cancer therapies.

On the Potential Function of Type II Arabinogalactan O-Glycosylation in Regulating the Fate of Plant Secretory Proteins

In a plant-specific mode of protein glycosylation, various sugars and glycans are attached to hydroxyproline giving rise to a variety of diverse O-glycoproteins. The sub-family of arabinogalactan proteins is implicated in a multitude of biological functions, however, the mechanistic role of O-glycosylation on AGPs by type II arabinogalactans is largely elusive. Some models suggest roles of the O-glycans such as in ligand-receptor interactions and as localized calcium ion store. Structurally different but possibly analogous types of protein O-glycosylation exist in animal and yeast models and roles for O-glycans were suggested in determining the fate of O-glycoproteins by affecting intracellular sorting or proteolytic activation and degradation. At present, only few examples exist that describe how the fate of artificial and endogenous arabinogalactan proteins is affected by O-glycosylation with type II arabinogalactans. In addition to other roles, these glycans might act as a molecular determinant for cellular localization and protein lifetime of many endogenous proteins.

Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)-Based Nanofibrous Electrospun Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering Applications

Tissue engineering (TE) holds an enormous potential to develop functional scaffolds resembling the structural organization of native tissues, to improve or replace biological functions and prevent organ transplantation. Amongst the many scaffolding techniques, electrospinning has gained widespread interest because of its outstanding features that enable the production of non-woven fibrous structures with a dimensional organization similar to the extracellular matrix. Various polymers can be electrospun in the form of three-dimensional scaffolds. However, very few are successfully processed using environmentally friendly solvents; poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is one of those. PVA has been investigated for TE scaffolding production due to its excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, chemo-thermal stability, mechanical performance and, most importantly, because of its ability to be dissolved in aqueous solutions. Here, a complete overview of the applications and recent advances in PVA-based electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds fabrication is provided. The most important achievements in bone, cartilage, skin, vascular, neural and corneal biomedicine, using PVA as a base substrate, are highlighted. Additionally, general concepts concerning the electrospinning technique, the stability of PVA when processed, and crosslinking alternatives to glutaraldehyde are as well reviewed.

Chondroitin Sulfate-Linked Prodrug Nanoparticles Target the Golgi Apparatus for Cancer Metastasis Treatment

Metastasis is a multistep biological process regulated by multiple signaling pathways. The integrity of the Golgi apparatus plays an important role in these signaling pathways. Inspired by the mechanism and our previous finding about accumulation of chondroitin sulfate in Golgi apparatus in hepatic stellate cells, we developed a Golgi apparatus-targeting prodrug nanoparticle system by synthesizing retinoic acid (RA)-conjugated chondroitin sulfate (CS) (CS-RA). The prodrug nanoparticles appeared to accumulate in the Golgi apparatus in cancer cells and realized RA release under an acidic environment. We confirmed that CS-RA exhibited successful inhibition of multiple metastasis-associated proteins expression in vitro and in vivo by disruption of the Golgi apparatus structure. Following loading with paclitaxel (PTX), the CS-RA based nanoformulation (PTX-CS-RA) inhibited migration, invasion, and angiogenesis in vitro and suppressed tumor growth and metastasis in 4T1-Luc bearing mice. This multistep targeted nanoparticle system potentially enhanced the effect of antimetastasis combined with chemotherapy.

Bone and connective tissue disorders caused by defects in glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis: a panoramic view

Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are a heterogeneous family of linear polysaccharides that constitute the carbohydrate moiety covalently attached to the protein core of proteoglycans, macromolecules present on the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix. Several genetic disorders of bone and connective tissue are caused by mutations in genes encoding for glycosyltransferases, sulfotransferases and transporters that are responsible for the synthesis of sulfated GAGs. Phenotypically, these disorders all reflect alterations in crucial biological functions of GAGs in the development, growth and homoeostasis of cartilage and bone. To date, up to 27 different skeletal phenotypes have been linked to mutations in 23 genes encoding for proteins involved in GAG biosynthesis. This review focuses on recent genetic, molecular and biochemical studies of bone and connective tissue disorders caused by GAG synthesis defects. These insights and future research in the field will provide a deeper understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of these disorders and will pave the way for developing common therapeutic strategies that might be targeted to a range of individual phenotypes.

Proteoglycan-targeting applied to hypoxia-activated prodrug therapy in chondrosarcoma: first proof-of-concept

Due to its abundant chondrogenic matrix and hypoxic tissue, chondrosarcoma is chemo- and radio-resistant. Our group has developed a proteoglycan targeting strategy by using a quaternary ammonium (QA) function as a carrier of DNA alkylating agents to chondrosarcoma environment. Here, we assessed the relevance of this strategy applied to hypoxia-activated prodrugs, by conjugating a QA to 2-nitroimidazole phosphoramidate. This derivative, named as 8-QA, was evaluated respectively to its non-QA equivalent and to a QA-conjugated but non-hypoxia activated. Firstly binding to aggrecan was confirmed from dissociation constant determined by Surface Plasmon Resonance. In vitro, in HEMC-SS chondrosarcoma cells cultured in monolayer and in spheroids, 8-QA showed higher cytotoxic activity in hypoxia versus normoxia, and led to a strong accumulation of cells in S phase and apoptosis. In vivo, a HEMC-SS xenograft model was implanted on SCID mice and characterized for hypoxia by photoacoustic imaging as well as proteoglycan content. When HEMC-SS bearing mice were given 8-QA at 47 μmol/kg according to a q4d x 6 schedule, a significant 62.1% inhibition of tumor growth was observed, without associated hematological side effects. Mechanistic studies of treated tumors highlighted decrease in mitotic index associated to increase in both p21 and p53S15 markers. Interestingly, 8-QA treatment induced an increase of DNA damages as measured by γH2AX predominantly found in pimonidazole-positive hypoxic areas. These preclinical results are the first to demonstrate the interest of addressing hypoxia-activated prodrugs selectively to proteoglycan of chondrogenic tumor tissue, as a promising therapeutic strategy.

Direct quantification of protein glycan phosphorylation

Phosphorylation is an important post-translational modification (PTM) of proteins and a critical quality attribute for protein therapeutics, especially if it is required for protein function or sub-cellular targeting. Most current methods to quantify phosphorylation are time-consuming, indirect, or require specific instrumentation and technical skills. Here, we report the adaptation of a phosphate-specific binding dye and common laboratory instruments for quantification of relative amounts of phosphorylated glycans as well as phosphorylation of amino acid residues on the backbones of proteins. Our results show that quantification of phosphorylation using the new method agrees with published data on the number of phosphorylated glycosylation sites for two lysosomal enzymes: β-glucuronidase (GUS) and cathepsin D.

Regulation of Chemokine Function: The Roles of GAG-Binding and Post-Translational Nitration

The primary function of chemokines is to direct the migration of leukocytes to the site of injury during inflammation. The effects of chemokines are modulated by several means, including binding to G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), binding to glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), and through post-translational modifications (PTMs). GAGs, present on cell surfaces, bind chemokines released in response to injury. Chemokines bind leukocytes via their GPCRs, which directs migration and contributes to local inflammation. Studies have shown that GAGs or GAG-binding peptides can be used to interfere with chemokine binding and reduce leukocyte recruitment. Post-translational modifications of chemokines, such as nitration, which occurs due to the production of reactive species during oxidative stress, can also alter their biological activity. This review describes the regulation of chemokine function by GAG-binding ability and by post-translational nitration. These are both aspects of chemokine biology that could be targeted if the therapeutic potential of chemokines, like CXCL8, to modulate inflammation is to be realised.