Modulating cell surface immunoreactivity by metabolic induction of unnatural carbohydrate antigens

Chemoenzymatic Total Synthesis of Haemophilus ducreyi Lipooligosaccharide Core Octasaccharides Containing Natural and Unnatural Sialic Acids

The first total synthesis of Haemophilus ducreyi lipooligosaccharide core octasaccharides containing natural and unnatural sialic acids has been achieved by an efficient chemoenzymatic approach. A highly convergent [3 + 3] coupling strategy was developed to chemically assemble a unique hexasaccharide bearing multiple rare higher-carbon sugars d-glycero-d-manno-heptose (d,d-Hep), l-glycero-d-manno-heptose (l,d-Hep), and 3-deoxy-α-d-manno-oct-2-ulosonic acid (Kdo). Key features include sequential one-pot glycosylations for oligosaccharide assembly and the construction of the challenging α-(1 → 5)-linked Hep-Kdo glycosidic bond by gold-catalyzed glycosylation with a glycosyl ortho-alkynylbenzoate donor. Furthermore, the sequential enzyme-catalyzed regio- and stereoselective introduction of a galactose residue using β-1,4-galactosyltransferase and different sialic acids using a one-pot multienzyme sialylation system was efficiently accomplished to provide the target octasaccharides.

Metabolic glycan labelling for cancer-targeted therapy

Metabolic glycoengineering with unnatural sugars provides a powerful tool to label cell membranes with chemical tags for subsequent targeted conjugation of molecular cargos via efficient chemistries. This technology has been widely explored for cancer labelling and targeting. However, as this metabolic labelling process can occur in both cancerous and normal cells, cancer-selective labelling needs to be achieved to develop cancer-targeted therapies. Unnatural sugars can be either rationally designed to enable preferential labelling of cancer cells, or specifically delivered to cancerous tissues. In this Review Article, we will discuss the progress to date in design and delivery of unnatural sugars for metabolic labelling of tumour cells and subsequent development of tumour-targeted therapy. Metabolic cell labelling for cancer immunotherapy will also be discussed. Finally, we will provide a perspective on future directions of metabolic labelling of cancer and immune cells for the development of potent, clinically translatable cancer therapies.

On the use of abiotic sialic acids to attenuate cell inflammation

Sialic acid (Sia) residues on cell surface are critical for myriad cellular events such as immunity and inflammation. We herein reported the use of abiotic Sia to raise the thresholds of inflammatory cell responses. Identified from a panel of structurally diversified Sia analogs via a cell inflammation assay, Sia-2, with N-butyryl moiety at C-5, markedly lowered LPS-stimulated NF-κB activity in macrophages. Further analysis shows that Sia-2 attenuates phosphorylation of IκB and Erk1/2/p38/JNK, critical for NF-κB signaling and MAPK signaling, and lowers gene transcription of proinflammatory interleukin-6. These results support the use of abiotic Sia as promising agents to modulate cell surface Sia-pertinent cell signaling.

A cancer vaccine based on fluorine-modified sialyl-Tn induces robust immune responses in a murine model

Development of an effective vaccine to target tumor associated carbohydrate antigens, aberrantly expressed on the cell surface of various carcinomas, is an appealing approach toward cancer immunotherapy. However, a major problem of carbohydrate antigens is their poor immunogenicity. Immunization with modified-carbohydrate antigens could improve the immunogenicity and induce cross reaction with the native carbohydrate antigens. In this study, we investigated the antitumor ability of three fluoro-substituted sialyl-Tn (STn) analogues (2, 3, 4) coupled to KLH (keyhole limpet hemocyanin) and studied the mechanism of tumor immunotherapy of the vaccines in a murine model of colon cancer. Vaccination with 4-KLH, in which the two N-acetyl groups of STn are substituted with N-fluoroacetyl groups, could remarkably prolong the survival of tumor-bearing mouse and resulted in a significant reduction in tumor burden of lungs compared with STn-KLH (1-KLH). The vaccine 4-KLH could provoke stronger cytotoxic T lymphocytes immune response, T helper (Th) cell-mediated immune response and an earlier-stage Th1 immune response than 1-KLH, thus breaking immune tolerance and generating a therapeutic response. The 4-KLH vaccine induced strong tumor-specific anti-STn antibodies which could mediate complement-dependent cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity against human tumor cells. Moreover, in the absence of adjuvant, 4-KLH still elicited stronger immune responses than 1-KLH. Our data suggested that 4-KLH is superior in tumor prevention. The strategic hapten fluorination may be a potential approach applicable to the vaccines development for the cancer immunotherapy.

Carbohydrate-based vaccines for oncotherapy

Cancer is still one of the most serious threats to human worldwide. Aberrant patterns of glycosylation on the surface of cancer cells, which are correlated with various cancer development stages, can differentiate the abnormal tissues from the healthy ones. Therefore, tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs) represent the desired targets for cancer immunotherapy. However, these carbohydrate antigens may not able to evoke powerful immune response to combat with cancer for their poor immunogenicity and immunotolerance. Different approaches have been developed to address these problems. In this review, we want to summarize the latest advances in TACAs based anticancer vaccines.

Redirecting immunity via covalently incorporated immunogenic sialic acid on the tumor cell surface

Techniques eliciting anti-tumor immunity are of interest for immunotherapy. We herein report the covalent incorporation of a non-self immunogen into the tumor glycocalyx by metabolic oligosaccharide engineering with 2,4-dinitrophenylated sialic acid (DNPSia). This enables marked suppression of pulmonary metastasis and subcutaneous tumor growth of B16F10 melanoma cells in mice preimmunized to produce anti-DNP antibodies. Located on the exterior glycocalyx, DNPSia is well-positioned to recruit antibodies. Given the high levels of natural anti-DNP antibodies in humans and ubiquitous sialylation across many cancers, DNPSia offers a simplified route to redirect immunity against diverse tumors without recourse to preimmunization.

Metabolic Remodeling of Cell-Surface Sialic Acids: Principles, Applications, and Recent Advances

Cell-surface sialic acids are essential in mediating a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Sialic acid chemistry and biology remain challenging to investigate, demanding new tools for probing sialylation in living systems. The metabolic glycan labeling (MGL) strategy has emerged as an invaluable chemical biology tool that enables metabolic installation of useful functionalities into cell-surface sialoglycans by "hijacking" the sialic acid biosynthetic pathway. Here we review the principles of MGL and its applications in study and manipulation of sialic acid function, with an emphasis on recent advances.

Labeling Cell Surface GPIs and GPI-Anchored Proteins through Metabolic Engineering with Artificial Inositol Derivatives

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchoring of proteins to the cell surface is important for various biological processes, but GPI-anchored proteins are difficult to study. An effective strategy was developed for the metabolic engineering of cell-surface GPIs and GPI-anchored proteins by using inositol derivatives carrying an azido group. The azide-labeled GPIs and GPI-anchored proteins were then tagged with biotin on live cells through a click reaction, which allows further elaboration with streptavidin-conjugated dyes or other molecules. The strategy can be used to label GPI-anchored proteins with various tags for biological studies.

Recent Developments in Synthetic Carbohydrate-Based Diagnostics, Vaccines, and Therapeutics

Glycans are everywhere in biological systems, being involved in many cellular events with important implications for medical purposes. Building upon a detailed understanding of the functional roles of carbohydrates in molecular recognition processes and disease states, glycans are increasingly being considered as key players in pharmacological research. On the basis of the important progress recently made in glycochemistry, glycobiology, and glycomedicine, we provide a complete overview of successful applications and future perspectives of carbohydrates in the biopharmaceutical and medical fields. This review highlights the development of carbohydrate-based diagnostics, exemplified by glycan imaging techniques and microarray platforms, synthetic oligosaccharide vaccines against infectious diseases (e.g., HIV) and cancer, and finally carbohydrate-derived therapeutics, including glycomimetic drugs and glycoproteins.

Metabolic glycoengineering bacteria for therapeutic, recombinant protein, and metabolite production applications

Metabolic glycoengineering is a specialization of metabolic engineering that focuses on using small molecule metabolites to manipulate biosynthetic pathways responsible for oligosaccharide and glycoconjugate production. As outlined in this article, this technique has blossomed in mammalian systems over the past three decades but has made only modest progress in prokaryotes. Nevertheless, a sufficient foundation now exists to support several important applications of metabolic glycoengineering in bacteria based on methods to preferentially direct metabolic intermediates into pathways involved in lipopolysaccharide, peptidoglycan, teichoic acid, or capsule polysaccharide production. An overview of current applications and future prospects for this technology are provided in this report.

Improvement of the immune efficacy of carbohydrate vaccines by chemical modification on the GM3 antigen

N-modified GM3 glycoconjugates improved the efficiency of the vaccination without the combination of metabolic oligosaccharide engineering technology.

Total synthesis of trifluorobutyryl-modified, globally protected sialyl Lewis x by a convergent [2+2] approach

Structural and quantitative changes in the expression of sialic acid residues on the surface of eukaryotic cells profoundly influence a broad range of biological processes including inflammation, antigen recognition, microbial attachment, and tumor metastasis. Uptake and incorporation of sialic acid analogues in mammalian cells enable structure-function studies and perturbation of specific recognition events. Our group has recently shown that a trifluorobutyryl-modified sialic acid metabolite diminishes the adhesion of mammalian cells to E and P-selectin, presumably by leading to the expression of fluorinated sLex epitopes on cell surfaces, and interfering with the sLex-selectin interactions that are well known in mediating tumor cell migration.1 For studies directed towards understanding the molecular basis of this reduced adhesion, chemical synthesis of trifluorobutyrylated sialyl Lewis x (C4F3--sLex) was crucial. We have developed a highly efficient [2+2] approach for the assembly of C4F3-sLex on a preparative scale that contains versatile protective groups allowing the glycan to be surface immobilized or solubilized as needed for biophysical studies to investigate selectin interactions. This strategy can, in principle, be used for preparation of other N-modified sLex analogues.

Quantifying the Efficiency of N-Phenyl-D-mannosamine to Metabolically Engineer Sialic Acid on Cancer Cell Surface

A convenient method was developed for the quantification of sialic acids expressed by cells and used to analyze the efficiency of N-phenylacetyl-D-mannosamine (ManNPhAc) to metabolically glycoengineer SKMEL-28 cancer cell. For this purpose, ManNPhAc-cultured cells were treated with 2M acetic acid to release sialic acids, and the products were treated with 1,2-diamino-4,5-methylenedioxybenzene to form the corresponding derivatives that had strong UV absorptions. The reaction mixture was then applied to HPLC-UV analysis to determine the amounts and the ratios of natural sialic acid and its unnatural analog. It was confirmed that after incubation with ManNPhAc SKMEL-28 cell was effectively glycoengineered to express a significant amount of unnatural sialic acid.

Glycotherapy: new advances inspire a reemergence of glycans in medicine

The beginning of the 20(th) century marked the dawn of modern medicine with glycan-based therapies at the forefront. However, glycans quickly became overshadowed as DNA- and protein-focused treatments became readily accessible. The recent development of new tools and techniques to study and produce structurally defined carbohydrates has spurred renewed interest in the therapeutic applications of glycans. This review focuses on advances within the past decade that are bringing glycan-based treatments back to the forefront of medicine and the technologies that are driving these efforts. These include the use of glycans themselves as therapeutic molecules as well as engineering protein and cell surface glycans to suit clinical applications. Glycan therapeutics offer a rich and promising frontier for developments in the academic, biopharmaceutical, and medical fields.

Experimental Design Considerations for In Vitro Non-Natural Glycan Display via Metabolic Oligosaccharide Engineering

Metabolic oligosaccharide engineering (MOE) refers to a technique where non-natural monosaccharide analogs are introduced into living biological systems. Once inside a cell, these compounds intercept a targeted biosynthetic glycosylation pathway and in turn are metabolically incorporated into cell-surface-displayed oligosaccharides where they can modulate a host of biological activities or be exploited as "tags" for bio-orthogonal and chemoselective ligation reactions. Undertaking a MOE experiment can be a daunting task based on the growing repertoire of analogs now available and the ever increasing number of metabolic pathways that can be targeted; therefore, a major emphasis of this article is to describe a general approach for analog design and selection and then provide protocols to ensure safe and efficacious analog usage by cells. Once cell-surface glycans have been successfully remodeled by MOE methodology, the stage is set for probing changes to the myriad cellular responses modulated by these versatile molecules. Curr. Protoc. Chem. Biol. 2:171-194 © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Glycoform remodeling generates a synthetic T cell phenotype

The glycan of specific proteins can dictate the response of cells to stimuli, and thus their phenotype. We describe a chemical strategy to modify the cellular glycoform of T cells, which resulted in a modified cellular response. Our data indicate that chemical modification of the phosphatase CD45 is responsible for the observed differences in response to receptor cross-linking. By increasing the content of galactose epitopes in the glycocalyx of a lymphoma cell line, we were able to increase the response of the cell to lectin stimulation through the glycoprotein receptor, CD45. The method described here exploits metabolic labeling of a cell to reprogram the cellular response to external stimuli though changes in the number of lectin binding sites on the cell surface.

Recent advances in developing synthetic carbohydrate-based vaccines for cancer immunotherapies

Cancer cells can often be distinguished from healthy cells by the expression of unique carbohydrate sequences decorating the cell surface as a result of aberrant glycosyltransferase activity occurring within the cell; these unusual carbohydrates can be used as valuable immunological targets in modern vaccine designs to raise carbohydrate-specific antibodies. Many tumor antigens (e.g., GM2, Ley, globo H, sialyl Tn and TF) have been identified to date in a variety of cancers. Unfortunately, carbohydrates alone evoke poor immunogenicity, owing to their lack of ability in inducing T-cell-dependent immune responses. In order to enhance their immunogenicity and promote long-lasting immune responses, carbohydrates are often chemically modified to link to an immunogenic protein or peptide fragment for eliciting T-cell-dependent responses. This review will present a summary of efforts and advancements made to date on creating carbohydrate-based anticancer vaccines, and will include novel approaches to overcoming the poor immunogenicity of carbohydrate-based vaccines.

Recent Development in Carbohydrate Based Anti-cancer Vaccines

The development of carbohydrate based anti-cancer vaccines is of high current interests. Herein, the latest development in this exciting field is reviewed. After a general introduction about tumor associated carbohydrate antigens and immune responses, the review is focused on the various strategies that have been developed to enhance the immunogenecity of these antigens. The results from animal studies and clinical trials are presented.

Enhancement of the immunogenicity of synthetic carbohydrate vaccines by chemical modifications of STn antigen

The abnormal glycans expressed on the surface of tumor cells, known as tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens, increase the chance to develop carbohydrate-based anticancer vaccines. However, carbohydrate antigens pose certain difficulties, and the major drawback is their weak immunogenicity. To tackle this problem, numerous structurally modified STn antigens were designed and synthesized in this work. These synthetic antigens were screened in vitro by using competitive ELISA method, and the antigens with positive response were conjugated to the protein carrier for vaccination. The vaccination results on mice showed that some fluorine-containing modifications on the STn antigen can significantly increase the anti-STn IgG titers and improve the ratios of anti-STn IgG/IgM. The antisera can recognize the tumor cells expressing the native STn antigen.

Cloning and characterization of a viral α2-3-sialyltransferase (vST3Gal-I) for the synthesis of sialyl Lewisx

Sialyl Lewis(x) (SLe(x), Siaα2-3Galβ1-4(Fucα1-3)GlcNAcβOR) is an important sialic acid-containing carbohydrate epitope involved in many biological processes such as inflammation and cancer metastasis. In the biosynthetic process of SLe(x), α2-3-sialyltransferase-catalyzed sialylation generally proceeds prior to α1-3-fucosyltransferase-catalyzed fucosylation. For the chemoenzymatic synthesis of SLe(x) containing different sialic acid forms, however, it would be more efficient if diverse sialic acid forms are transferred in the last step to the fucosylated substrate Lewis(x) (Le(x)). An α2-3-sialyltransferase obtained from myxoma virus-infected European rabbit kidney RK13 cells (viral α2-3-sialyltransferase (vST3Gal-I)) was reported to be able to tolerate fucosylated substrate Le(x). Nevertheless, the substrate specificity of the enzyme was only determined using partially purified protein from extracts of cells infected with myxoma virus. Herein we demonstrate that a previously reported multifunctional bacterial enzyme Pasteurella multocida sialyltransferase 1 (PmST1) can also use Le(x) as an acceptor substrate, although at a much lower efficiency compared to nonfucosylated acceptor. In addition, N-terminal 30-amino-acid truncated vST3Gal-I has been successfully cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli Origami™ B(DE3) cells as a fusion protein with an N-terminal maltose binding protein (MBP) and a C-terminal His(6)-tag (MBP-Δ30vST3Gal-I-His(6)). The viral protein has been purified to homogeneity and characterized biochemically. The enzyme is active in a broad pH range varying from 5.0 to 9.0. It does not require a divalent metal for its α2-3-sialyltransferase activity. It has been used in one-pot multienzyme sialylation of Le(x) for the synthesis of SLe(x) containing different sialic acid forms with good yields.

Metabolic glycoengineering: sialic acid and beyond

This report provides a perspective on metabolic glycoengineering methodology developed over the past two decades that allows natural sialic acids to be replaced with chemical variants in living cells and animals. Examples are given demonstrating how this technology provides the glycoscientist with chemical tools that are beginning to reproduce Mother Nature's control over complex biological systems - such as the human brain - through subtle modifications in sialic acid chemistry. Several metabolic substrates (e.g., ManNAc, Neu5Ac, and CMP-Neu5Ac analogs) can be used to feed flux into the sialic acid biosynthetic pathway resulting in numerous - and sometime quite unexpected - biological repercussions upon nonnatural sialoside display in cellular glycans. Once on the cell surface, ketone-, azide-, thiol-, or alkyne-modified glycans can be transformed with numerous ligands via bioorthogonal chemoselective ligation reactions, greatly increasing the versatility and potential application of this technology. Recently, sialic acid glycoengineering methodology has been extended to other pathways with analog incorporation now possible in surface-displayed GalNAc and fucose residues as well as nucleocytoplasmic O-GlcNAc-modified proteins. Finally, recent efforts to increase the "druggability" of sugar analogs used in metabolic glycoengineering, which have resulted in unanticipated "scaffold-dependent" activities, are summarized.

Efficient glycoengineering of GM3 on melanoma cell and monoclonal antibody-mediated selective killing of the glycoengineered cancer cell

To verify the principal of a new immunotherapeutic strategy for cancer, a monoclonal antibody 2H3 against N-phenylacetyl GM3, an unnatural form of the tumor-associated antigen GM3, was prepared and employed to demonstrate that murine melanoma cell B16F0 could be effectively glycoengineered by N-phenylacetyl-d-mannosamine to express N-phenylacetyl GM3 and that 2H3 was highly cytotoxic to the glycoengineered B16F0 cell in the presence of complements. It was further demonstrated that B16F0 cell could be glycoengineered 4-5 times more effectively than 3T3 A31 cell, a normal murine embryo fibroblast cell, and that the antibody and complement mediated cytotoxicity was at least 200 times more potent to the glycoengineered B16F0 cell than to the N-phenylacetyl-d-mannosamine-treated 3T3 A31 cell. These results show the promise for developing useful melanoma immunotherapies based on vaccination against N-phenylacetyl GM3 followed by treatment with N-phenylacetyl-d-mannosamine.

Efficient metabolic engineering of GM3 on tumor cells by N-phenylacetyl-D-mannosamine

Abnormal carbohydrates expressed on tumor cells, which are termed tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs), are potential targets for the development of cancer vaccines. However, immune tolerance to TACAs has severely hindered progress in this area. To overcome this problem, we have developed a novel immunotherapeutic strategy based on synthetic cancer vaccines and metabolic engineering of TACAs on tumor cells. One critical step of this new strategy is metabolic engineering of cancer, namely, to induce expression of an artificial form of a TACA by supplying tumors with an artificial monosaccharide precursor. To identify the proper precursor for this application, N-propionyl, N-butanoyl, N-isobutanoyl, and N-phenylacetyl derivatives of d-mannosamine were synthesized, and their efficiency as biosynthetic precursors in modifying sialic acid and inducing expression of modified forms of GM3 antigen on tumor cells was investigated. For this purpose, tumor cells were incubated with different N-acyl-d-mannosamines, and modified forms of GM3 expressed on tumor cells were analyzed by flow cytometry using antigen-specific antisera. N-Phenylacetyl-d-mannosamine was efficiently incorporated in a time- and dose-dependent manner to bioengineer GM3 expression by several tumor cell lines, including K562, SKMEL-28, and B16-F0. Moreover, these tumor cell lines also exhibited ManPAc-dependent sensitivity to cytotoxicity mediated by anti-PAcGM3 immune serum and complement. These results provide an important validation for this novel therapeutic strategy. Because N-phenylacetyl GM3-protein conjugates are particularly immunogenic, the combination of an N-phenylacetyl GM3 conjugate vaccine with systemic N-phenylacetyl-d-mannosamine treatment is a promising immunotherapy for future development and application to melanoma and other GM3-bearing tumors.

Metabolic installation of thiols into sialic acid modulates adhesion and stem cell biology

Metabolic 'oligosaccharide engineering' methods based on N-acetyl-D-mannosamine (ManNAc) analogs allow the glycocalyx of living cells to be remodeled. Herein we report the analog Ac(5)ManNTGc (1) that enables thiols to be expressed in surface sialic acids. By locating this versatile functional group on the outer periphery of normally nonadhesive human Jurkat cells, we obtained spontaneous cell-cell clustering and attachment to complementary maleimide-derivatized substrates. When analyzed in human embryoid body-derived (hEBD) stem cells, Ac(5)ManNTGc induced beta-catenin expression and altered cell morphology, consistent with neuronal differentiation. Notably, these effects were modulated by the growth substrate of the cells, with a stronger response observed on a gold surface than on glass. Together, these results establish sugar analogs as small-molecule tools for tissue engineering by providing a method for attaching cells to scaffolds via their surface carbohydrates as well as offering a means to influence stem cell fates.

A new strategy for the synthesis of dinucleotides loaded with glycosylated amino acids--investigations on in vitro non-natural amino acid mutagenesis for glycoprotein synthesis

The in vitro non-natural amino acid mutagenesis method provides the opportunity to introduce non-natural amino acids site-specifically into proteins. To this end, a chemically synthesised aminoacylated dinucleotide is enzymatically ligated to a truncated suppressor transfer RNA. The loaded suppressor tRNA is then used in translation reactions to read an internal stop codon. Here we report an advanced and general strategy for the synthesis of the aminoacyl dinucleotide. The protecting group pattern developed for the dinucleotide facilitates highly efficient aminoacylation, followed by one-step global deprotection. The strategy was applied to the synthesis of dinucleotides loaded with 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-glycosylated amino acids, including N- and O-beta-glycosides and O- and C-alpha-glycosides of amino acids, thus enabling the extension of in vitro non-natural amino acid mutagenesis towards the synthesis of natural glycoproteins of high biological interest. We demonstrate the incorporation of the glycosylamino acids--although with low suppression efficiency--into the human interleukin granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (hG-CSF), as verified by the ELISA technique.

Glycans in cancer and inflammation--potential for therapeutics and diagnostics

Changes in glycosylation are often a hallmark of disease states. For example, cancer cells frequently display glycans at different levels or with fundamentally different structures than those observed on normal cells. This phenomenon was first described in the early 1970s, but the molecular details underlying such transformations were poorly understood. In the past decade advances in genomics, proteomics and mass spectrometry have enabled the association of specific glycan structures with disease states. In some cases, the functional significance of disease-associated changes in glycosylation has been revealed. This review highlights changes in glycosylation associated with cancer and chronic inflammation and new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies that are based on the underlying glycobiology.

The sweet and sour of cancer: glycans as novel therapeutic targets

A growing body of evidence supports crucial roles for glycans at various pathophysiological steps of tumour progression. Glycans regulate tumour proliferation, invasion, haematogenous metastasis and angiogenesis, and increased understanding of these roles sets the stage for developing pharmaceutical agents that target these molecules. Such novel agents might be used alone or in combination with operative and/or chemoradiation strategies for treating cancer.

Characterization of the cellular uptake and metabolic conversion of acetylated N-acetylmannosamine (ManNAc) analogues to sialic acids

"Sialic acid engineering" refers to the strategy where cell surface carbohydrates are modified by the biosynthetic incorporation of metabolic intermediates, such as non-natural N-acetylmannosamine (ManNAc) analogues, into cellular glycoconjugates. While this technology has promising research, biomedical, and biotechnological applications due to its ability to endow the cell surface with novel physical and chemical properties, its adoption on a large scale is hindered by the inefficient metabolic utilization of ManNAc analogues. We address this limitation by proposing the use of acetylated ManNAc analogues for sialic acid engineering applications. In this paper, the metabolic flux of these "second-generation" compounds into a cell, and, subsequently, into the target sialic acid biosynthetic pathway is characterized in detail. We show that acetylated ManNAc analogues are metabolized up to 900-fold more efficiently than their natural counterparts. The acetylated compounds, however, decrease cell viability under certain culture conditions. To determine if these toxic side effects can be avoided, we developed an assay to measure the cellular uptake of acetylated ManNAc from the culture medium and its subsequent flux into sialic acid biosynthetic pathway. This assay shows that the majority ( > 80%) of acetylated ManNAc is stored in a cellular "reservoir" capable of safely sequestering this analogue. These results provide conditions that, from a practical perspective, enable the acetylated analogues to be used safely and efficaciously and therefore offer a general strategy to facilitate metabolic substrate-based carbohydrate engineering efforts. In addition, these results provide fundamental new insights into the metabolic processing of non-natural monosaccharides.

Characterization of the metabolic flux and apoptotic effects of O-hydroxyl- and N-acyl-modified N-acetylmannosamine analogs in Jurkat cells

The supplementation of the sialic acid biosynthetic pathway with exogenously supplied N-acetylmannosamine (ManNAc) analogs has many potential biomedical and biotechnological applications. In this work, we explore the structure-activity relationship of Man-NAc analogs on cell viability and metabolic flux into the sialic acid biosynthetic pathway to gain a better understanding of the fundamental biology underlying "glycosylation engineering" technology. A panel of ManNAc analogs bearing various modifications on the hydroxyl groups as well as substitutions at the N-acyl position was investigated. Increasing the carbon chain length of ester derivatives attached to the hydroxyl groups increased the metabolic efficiency of sialic acid production, whereas similar modification to the N-acyl group decreased efficiency. In both cases, increases in chain length decreased cell viability; DNA ladder formation, Annexin V-FITC two-dimensional flow cytometry assays, caspase-3 activation, and down-regulation of sialoglycoconjugate-processing enzymes established that the observed growth inhibition and toxicity resulted from apoptosis. Two of the panel of 12 analogs tested, specifically Ac(4)ManNLev and Ac(4) ManNHomoLev, were highly toxic. Interestingly, both of these analogs maintained a ketone functionality in the same position relative to the core monosaccharide structure, and both also inhibited flux through the sialic acid pathway (the remainder of the less toxic analogs either increased or had no measurable impact on flux). These results provide fundamental insights into the role of sialic acid metabolism in apoptosis by demonstrating that ManNAc analogs can modulate apoptosis both indirectly via hydroxylgroup effects and directly through N-acyl-group effects.

Preparation and immunological studies of protein conjugates of N -acylneuraminic acids

The overexpression of N -acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) is closely correlated with malignant transformations. Thus, Neu5Ac is an important target in the design of cancer vaccines. To study the influence of chemical modifications of Neu5Ac on its immunological properties, the alpha-allyl glycosides of five differently N -acylated neuraminic acid derivatives were prepared. Following selective ozonolysis of their allyl group to form an aldehyde functionality, they were coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) via reductive amination. Resultant glycoconjugates were studied in C57BL/6 mice. The N -propionyl, N - iso- butanoyl and N -phenylacetyl derivatives of neuraminic acid provoked robust immune responses of various antibody isotypes, including IgM, IgG1, IgG2a and IgG3, whereas N -trifluoropropionylneuraminic acid and natural Neu5Ac were essentially nonimmunogenic. Moreover, the N -phenylacetyl and N - iso- butanoyl derivatives mainly induced IgG responses that are desirable for antitumor applications. These results raise the promise of formulating effective glycoconjugate cancer vaccines via derivatizing sialic acid residues of sialooligosaccharides.

Bolaforms with Fourteen Galactose Units: A Proposed Site-Directed Cohesion of Cancer Cells

[structure: see text] The multistep synthesis of a calixarene joined to a second calixarene via a long spacer is described. Since each calixarene bears multiple galactose-based units (known to bind strongly to rat hepatoma cells), there existed the possibility of cross-linking the cancer cells into a network. The compounds did not serve this purpose, a fact potentially correctable by adjusting or rigidifying the spacer. Formation of a "cancer net" around a solid tumor remains a viable approach to retarding growth and/or inhibiting metastasis.

Metabolic incorporation of unnatural sialic acids into Haemophilus ducreyi lipooligosaccharides

The lipooligosaccharides (LOS) of Haemophilus ducreyi are highly sialylated, a modification that has been implicated in resistance to host defense and in virulence. In previous work, we demonstrated that H. ducreyi scavenges sialic acid from the extracellular milieu and incorporates those residues into LOS. Here we report that H. ducreyi can use unnatural sialic acids bearing elongated N-acyl groups from three to seven carbon atoms in length, resulting in outer membrane presentation of unnatural sialyl-LOS. The unnatural variant comprises approximately 90% of cell surface sialosides when exogenous substrates are added to the media at micromolar concentrations, despite the availability of natural sialic acid in the growth media. Although they represent the majority of cell surface sialosides, analogs with longer N-acyl groups diminish the overall level of LOS sialylation, culminating in complete inhibition of LOS sialylation by N-octanoyl sialic acid. Thus, sialylation of H. ducreyi LOS can be modulated with respect to the structure of the terminal sialic acid residue and the extent to which the LOS acceptor is modified by supplying the bacteria with various sialic acid analogs.

Molecular recognition: identifying compounds and their targets

As a result of gene sequencing and proteomic efforts, thousands of new genes and proteins are now available as potential drug targets. The milieu of these proteins is complex and interactive; thousands of proteins activate, inhibit, and control each other's actions. The effect of blocking or activating a protein in a cell is far-reaching, and can affect whole, as well as adjacent pathways. This network of pathways is dynamic and a cellular response can change depending on the stimulus. In this section, the identification and role of individual proteins within the context of networked pathways, and the regulation of the activity of these proteins is discussed. Diverse chemical libraries, combinatorial libraries, natural products, as well as unnatural natural products that are derived from combinatorial biology (Chiu [2001] Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 98:8548-8553), provide the chemical diversity in the search for new drugs to block new targets. Identifying new compounds that can become drugs is a long, expensive, and arduous task and potential targets must be carefully defined so as not to waste valuable resources. Equally important is the selection of compounds to be future drug candidates. Target selectivity in no way guarantees clinical efficacy, as the compound must meet pharmaceutical requirements, such as solubility, absorption, tissue distribution, and lack of toxicity. Thus matching biological diversity with chemical diversity involves something more than tight interactions, it involves interactions of the compounds with a variety host factors that can modulate its activity.

Chemical and biological strategies for engineering cell surface glycosylation

Oligosaccharides play a crucial role in many of the recognition, signaling, and adhesion events that take place at the surface of cells. Abnormalities in the synthesis or presentation of these carbohydrates can lead to misfolded and inactive proteins, as well as to several debilitating disease states. However, their diverse structures, which are the key to their function, have hampered studies by biologists and chemists alike. This review presents an overview of techniques for examining and manipulating cell surface oligosaccharides through genetic, enzymatic, and chemical strategies.

Chemoselective approaches to glycoprotein assembly

Oligosaccharides on proteins and lipids play central roles in human health and disease. The molecular analysis of glycoconjugate function has benefited tremendously from new methods for their chemical synthesis, which provides homogeneous material not attainable from biosynthetic systems. Still, glycoconjugate synthesis requires the manipulation of multiple stereocenters and protecting groups and remains the domain of a few expert laboratories around the world. This Account summarizes chemoselective approaches for assembling homogeneous glycoconjugates that attempt to reduce the barriers to their synthesis. The objective of these methods is to make glycoconjugate synthesis accessible to a broader community, thereby accelerating progress in glycobiology.