Sialylation using N-glycolylneuraminyl phosphite donors to synthesize Neu5Gc-containing glycans

Growing impact of sialic acid-containing glycans in future drug discovery

In nature, almost all cells are covered with a complex array of glycan chain namely sialic acids or nuraminic acids, a negatively charged nine carbon sugars which is considered for their great therapeutic importance since long back. Owing to its presence at the terminal end of lipid bilayer (commonly known as terminal sugars), the well-defined sialosides or sialoconjugates have served pivotal role on the cell surfaces and thus, the sialic acid-containing glycans can modulate and mediate a number of imperative cellular interactions. Understanding of the sialo-protein interaction and their roles in vertebrates in regard of normal physiology, pathological variance, and evolution has indeed a noteworthy journey in medicine. In this tutorial review, we present a concise overview about the structure, linkages in chemical diversity, biological significance followed by chemical and enzymatic modification/synthesis of sialic acid containing glycans. A more focus is attempted about the recent advances, opportunity, and more over growing impact of sialosides and sialoconjugates in future drug discovery and development.

Synthesis of N-Glycolylneuraminic Acid (Neu5Gc) and Its Glycosides

Sialic acids constitute a family of negatively charged structurally diverse monosaccharides that are commonly presented on the termini of glycans in higher animals and some microorganisms. In addition to N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), N-glycolyl neuraminic acid (Neu5Gc) is among the most common sialic acid forms in nature. Nevertheless, unlike most animals, human cells loss the ability to synthesize Neu5Gc although Neu5Gc-containing glycoconjugates have been found on human cancer cells and in various human tissues due to dietary incorporation of Neu5Gc. Some pathogenic bacteria also produce Neu5Ac and the corresponding glycoconjugates but Neu5Gc-producing bacteria have yet to be found. In addition to Neu5Gc, more than 20 Neu5Gc derivatives have been found in non-human vertebrates. To explore the biological roles of Neu5Gc and its naturally occurring derivatives as well as the corresponding glycans and glycoconjugates, various chemical and enzymatic synthetic methods have been developed to obtain a vast array of glycosides containing Neu5Gc and/or its derivatives. Here we provide an overview on various synthetic methods that have been developed. Among these, the application of highly efficient one-pot multienzyme (OPME) sialylation systems in synthesizing compounds containing Neu5Gc and derivatives has been proven as a powerful strategy.

Analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry: an update for 2009-2010

This review is the sixth update of the original article published in 1999 on the application of MALDI mass spectrometry to the analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates and brings coverage of the literature to the end of 2010. General aspects such as theory of the MALDI process, matrices, derivatization, MALDI imaging, arrays and fragmentation are covered in the first part of the review and applications to various structural typed constitutes the remainder. The main groups of compound that are discussed in this section are oligo and polysaccharides, glycoproteins, glycolipids, glycosides and biopharmaceuticals. Many of these applications are presented in tabular form. Also discussed are medical and industrial applications of the technique, studies of enzyme reactions and applications to chemical synthesis.

First synthesis of a pentasaccharide moiety of ganglioside GAA-7 containing unusually modified sialic acids through the use of N-Troc-sialic acid derivative as a key unit

The pentasaccharide part of the potent neuritogenic ganglioside GAA-7 has been synthesized for the first time. The unique branched terminus constituting partially modified sialic acids and N-acetylgalactosamine was successfully established by stereoselective double-sialylation using 8-O-methyl-N-Troc-sialic acid as a donor. The final 4 + 1 coupling reaction provided a high yield of pentasaccharide, which was deprotected to deliver the target molecule.

Metabolic monosaccharides altered cell responses to anticancer drugs

Metabolic glycoengineering has been used to manipulate the glycochemistry of cell surfaces and thus the cell/cell interaction, cell adhesion, and cell migration. However, potential application of glycoengineering in pharmaceutical sciences has not been studied until recently. Here, we reported that Ac(4)ManNAc, an analog of N-acetyl-D-mannosamine (ManNAc), could affect cell responses to anticancer drugs. Although cells from different tissues and organs responded to Ac(4)ManNAc treatment differently, treated cells with increased sialic acid contents showed dramatically reduced sensitivity (up to 130 times) to anti-cancer drugs as tested on various drugs with distinct chemical structures and acting mechanisms. Neither increased P-glycoprotein activity nor decreased drug uptake was observed during the course of Ac(4)ManNAc treatment. However, greatly altered intracellular drug distributions were observed. Most intracellular daunorubicin was found in the perinuclear region, but not the expected nuclei in the Ac(4)ManNAc treated cells. Since sialoglycoproteins and gangliosides were synthesized in the Golgi, intracellular glycans affected intracellular signal transduction and drug distributions seem to be the main reason for Ac(4)ManNAc affected cell sensitivity to anticancer drugs. It was interesting to find that although Ac(4)ManNAc treated breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) maintained the same sensitivity to 5-Fluorouracil, the IC(50) value of 5-Fluorouracil to the same Ac(4)ManNAc treated normal cells (MCF-10A) was increased by more than 20 times. Thus, this Ac(4)ManNAc treatment enlarged drug response difference between normal and tumor cells provides a unique opportunity to further improve the selectivity and therapeutic efficiency of anticancer drugs.

Parallel chemoenzymatic synthesis of sialosides containing a C5-diversified sialic acid

A convenient chemoenzymatic strategy for synthesizing sialosides containing a C5-diversified sialic acid was developed. The alpha2,3- and alpha2,6-linked sialosides containing a 5-azido neuraminic acid synthesized by a highly efficient one-pot three-enzyme approach were converted to C5''-amino sialosides, which were used as common intermediates for chemical parallel synthesis to quickly generate a series of sialosides containing various sialic acid forms.